The Pirelli National Rally was a difficult event for 19 year-old rally driver Alick Kerr and his 18 year-old co-driver Drew Sturrock, but the pair have vowed to come back fighting on this weekend’s Granite City Rally.

Kerr’s Leaker Direct-backed Ford Fiesta ST was forced to pull out of the Carlislebased Pirelli before it had hit a stage in anger due to an engine problem, but Alick’s team are aiming to have the car ready for the trip up to Aberdeen on Saturday, 26 April.

Bothwell-based Alick was understandably disappointed to have to pull out of the second round of the VK Fiesta Sporting Trophy, however he is more fired-up than ever for the rest of the season as a result. “To leave the house at midday on Friday, get all the way down to the rally and then find we can’t start is obviously a big blow,” admits the foundry engineer. “We had guys working on the car for four hours trying to figure out what was wrong with it but to no avail. As we are only allowed to drop one Fiesta Trophy round in the season, every round has to count for us from now on.”

“There were M-Sport technicians looking at the car, computers plugged into it, bits being swapped in and out and still the car wouldn’t run,” adds Team Principal Donald Kerr. “What amazed me, though, was how helpful the other teams were – fellow Scottish driver Stevie Brown’s crew in particular were helping us throughout the morning. I suppose the one good thing is that I don’t have to spend Sunday washing the car now!”

Alick Kerr now turns his attention to the Station Garage Mitsubishi Granite City Rally, the third round of the Scottish Rally Championship. Kerr is challenging for honours in the twowheel drive and Junior categories, and is keen to bounce back after being forced to sit out the Border Counties Rally earlier this month. “The aim for the Granite has to be to get the reliability back into the car and to get more miles under our belts,” reckons Alick. “Our targets in the SRC are to go for the class and Junior titles, but having used up one of our two ‘dropped scores’ already we need a good result.”

Before the rally itself, though, Alick will be in action on the Granite’s press day on Friday as he looks to bed in the new engine and re-acclimatise himself to the Fiesta. A strong run through the Grampian forests will put Alick and Drew back on track for class honours in the Scottish Championship and set them up for resuming battle in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy.

Further information on the team can be found at www.alickkerr.com