Helensburgh rally driver Fraser Anderson has said that his head is “a bit more screwed on” as he steps into the Junior British Rally Championship.
The 19-year-old saw a spate of non-finishes cost him the chance of winning the academy title last year, despite showing blistering pace throughout the season.
Now he’s moved up to the JBRC class, and is hoping that a switch of car should iron out the reliability issues that plagued his 2021 campaign.
The Baxter and Gillespie backed driver said: “Last season was a real rollercoaster of emotions.
“Our pace within the academy was very solid, we essentially won every single stage that we did competitively and took the win by over two minutes on the Nicky Grist Stages.
“Unfortunately, a number of technical issues and, admittedly, a couple of mistakes on my part made the season quite tricky.
“We decided to take a step back and reorganise for the future. I’m hoping that the move to the new Fiesta Rally4 will rectify the technical issues we had last season and I’m coming into this season with a more measured approach, you could say my head is a bit more screwed on.”
Anderson, who will compete with co-driver Sinclair Young, admits that he is expecting competition to be fierce - but that stepping up to JBRC is a dream come true.
He explained: “At the moment I am still learning the new car and, after a long hiatus on tarmac, I’m looking to improve my pace on the sticky stuff as well.
“The competition will be as fierce as always, especially against the Irish guys on tarmac.
“The unique thing about the JBRC is that there are no real weak links so you always must be at your best, or someone else will capitalise and take advantage of the situation. I expect the battles to be as hot as ever.
“The car is still very new to us so to set any real targets at the moment is difficult, we’ll see where we slot in at round one and plan to build our pace accordingly throughout the season with the aim always being to be in the fight at the front
“It’s hard to put into words how excited I am though.
“When I first started in the Junior 1000 Ecosse championship, the Junior BRC seemed like a distant dream that I was never quite fully sure that I could achieve.
“I don’t come from a rallying family with barrels of cash, so to be here is quite literally a dream come true for me and I am eternally grateful to my sponsors Cardowan Creameries, Baxter and Gillespie, HSS Glasgow, Artex, and Akzonobeland and my family for this incredible opportunity.”
The British Rally Championship season gets underway on April 23 with the Corbeau Seats Rally Tendring and Clacton in Essex.
