We’re delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s John Horton Star Driver Award is ….

ANGUS LAWRIE

After the end of the season, the 8 drivers nominated for the award were asked to submit a Motorsport CV to the judging panel. Their submission was to include:

• A brief background of your personal interest in rallying
• Your previous experience in the sport before the 2022 season
• A brief overview of the SRC events you competed on in 2022
• Why you think you were selected as Star Driver on your nominated event
• Where do you plan to be in the next 2 years

A judging panel then looked through their submissions in conjunction with reviewing performances on the stages through the year before making their final decision. They would like to thank all the nominees who took the time to submit their CVs and to commend all of them on the standard of their submissions. The final decision was a very difficult one and the quality of the submissions only served to make that decision even harder.

Castle Douglas resident Angus’s season that got off to the worst possible start when the engine let go on the 2nd stage of the opening round. An unscheduled raid of the piggy bank had to be made for a replacement engine for his Evo 9 prior to the 2nd round. There then followed 7 successive maximum scores in the Albyn Garage Challengers category, Angus clinching the title on his home event, the Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally, before securing his first ever SRC podium and 3rd in the overall Drivers Championship with an impressive 2nd place on the Carlisle Stages. All this was achieved in a fairly standard specification car fitted with a sequential gearbox, prepared and serviced alongside the similar car of Willie Paterson on all SRC events.

Congratulations to Angus who is absolutely over the moon to have won this prestigious award particularly when up against such strong competition. Discussions will now take place between Angus and the KNC Groundworks Scottish Rally Championship management committee to deliver a package specifically tailored to suit Angus’s ambitions. More details of the prize will be announced in due course.

The John Horton Star Drive Award was introduced in 2017 in recognition of the invaluable help and support that John gave to the Scottish Rally Championship over many years. Previous winners of the award are Keith Riddick, Michael Binnie and Max Redpath