Lanarkshire junior driver Alick Kerr followed up his fine Snowman result with a solid 5th place overall on this weekends Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally in Jedburgh, a result which sees the 21 year old Foundry Engineer topping the 2010 Hankook MSA Scottish Rally Championship standings after 2 rounds.

This doesn’t tell the full story of the event  however, as despite this fifth place event finish the Kompact Kitchens Rangemaster backed driver, along with navigator Neil Shanks, endured a character building day and never quite managed to get full confidence in his Subaru Impreza.

After the wintry conditions of February’s Snowman Alick found the transition back onto gravel for the first time in 5 months took a little time, and this unfamiliarity was not helped by the slippery conditions the crews encountered in the forests on the Scottish Border;

“Confidence in the camp was high after the Snowman, and with increased support from Pirelli tyres I was confident we could continue where we left off in Inverness. Without the luxury of a pre-event test it took me the first stage to regain the feeling of driving on gravel and as a result we were already over 10 seconds of the pace of the leading SRC contenders. It then got worse on stage 2 where the stage conditions were really bad and I had no option but to back off in places to keep the car on the road ” explained the Bags Online and Opie Oils backed driver.

Arriving at service after 3 stages Kerr was frustrated to be in 8th place overall and 5th in the SRC standings, but was somewhat reassured to find other competitors also complaining of a lack of grip and lack of confidence in their cars. After a change of settings the crew left for the final 2 stages hoping the changes would see an improvement in stage times.

Stage 4 was the longest of the event, and while the handling of the car was improved leading to increased confidence, both Alick & Neil felt the car was a little down on power on the long straights that were a feature of the 14 mile Redesdale test, and the times at the end of the stage showed this could well be the case, and the crew were now under threat from behind, with only a 5 second cushion to the chasing Andy Horne.

Fortunately, the final 6 mile test was a much more technical affair than the previous test, and with power not so much of an issue the crew were able to set their best stage time of the event and held on to their 5th place in the final standings, a satisfying end to a difficult day;

“After a rally as difficult today, and the problems we have had I’m really happy to come away with 4th place SRC points (event winner Dave Weston Jnr not being registered), and to lead the Hankook MSA Scottish Rally Championship is better than I could have expected. If you had told me that before the Snowman I would never have believed you. We hope to get the car down to Subaru specialists TEG Sport before the Granite City and get the car back to 100% as we have a championship lead to defend…”

The Aberdeen based Station Garage Granite City Rally takes place on Saturday 17th April. For further information on the team and partnership opportunities, please go to www.alickkerr.com