25 May 2026 / By David Ferguson
The sun came out for a stunning Borders Competitions Jim Clark Rally at the weekend and Pirelli once again claimed the top spots.
Max McRae continued his rise in the world of rallying and savoured the memory with a post-event picture with his father Alister and grandfather Jimmy, the 21-year-old having followed up a first place in the opening round of the British Rally Championship in Wales, and fourth at the Severn Valley.
He and co-driver Cameron Fair showed their title-contending form as they dominated in the Pirelli-shod Skoda Fabia Rally2, starting just behind the pace and then storming to win eight of the last ten stages.
But he was pushed hard by the Toyota Yaris Rally2 of Meirion Evans and Dale Furniss before eventually coming out on top with a 30-second margin. That meant a 1-2 for Pirelli on the podium with Evans and Furniss still firmly in the race for British podiums.
There was further Pirelli success right across the British rally as crews dropped into the Big Black Truck and enjoyed a chat with Andrew and Ivor to ensure they had the right compounds to take advantage of the warm Borders weather.
Aoife Raftery and co-driver Liam Egan (pictured above in their pink Fiesta Rally2) claimed their second straight BRC3 victory while Irishman Ben McFall and co-driver Damian McAuley (pictured spraying champagne) again won the Junior BRC class in their Ford Fiesta Rally4. Dumfries’ Owen Paterson and Catrin Price (pictured, drenched in champagne) claimed the National title in their Subaru Impreza GC8.
Borderers battle has tense finish in the Reivers Rally
On Sunday, despite there being over 200 crew members from across the UK and as far afield as Iceland and New Zealand, the Scottish Rally Championship counter, the Reivers Rally, brought out the latest chapter in a familiar local battle.
Garry Pearson and Hannah McKillop set the early pace in their M-Sport Fiesta Rally 2, winning the first stages, before reigning champions Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton roared back into contention with the next two stage wins and the teams set exactly the same time on their second run around the picturesque Scott’s View.
Pearson and McKillop claimed stage seven at Roxburgh by just over a second, and went into the final Eccles stage with a seven-second lead. But Thorburn and Beaton were leaving nothing on the road and seemed to be running a few seconds quicker until going slightly wide on a bend around a mile from the finish and suffering a puncture in their pursuit of a fourth straight Reivers victory.
That left Pearson and McKillop as first-time Reivers champions, the driver picking up the trophy he had dreamed of ever since watching the rally and his father Monty in action as a kid.
“This is definitely a bucket list moment,” said the 34-year-old driver. “You can probably you can tell by the ear-to-ear smile how I’m feeling.
“That was a very tense battle with Euan, and credit to him, he pushed me all the way and we couldn’t let up at all, so, yeah, absolutely over the moon. Euan doesn’t rally much these days but he’s won it three times in a row because he’s very quick on these roads, so, it’s good to finally to take this crown off him, and we’ll try and keep it.”
Decision time for Pearson on Scottish or British bid
Having now competed in two BRC and two SRC events, sitting fourth in the BRC standings and now contesting the lead in the SRC, which he won in 2021 – with two wins and a non-start from the opening three rounds – he added: “We have a bit of thinking to do on which one we focus on because it’s tough to do both right the way through the year.
“I’m thinking about going for the Scottish Championship now because that’s us won the two events we’ve competed in [Border Counties Rally and Jim Clark], but at the same time I would really love to contest the British because I’ve never won that, so we’ll take some time to savour this and then we’ll sit down and work it out.”