RISING Helensburgh rally star Fraser Anderson has finished an eventful first season in the Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge in fifth place in the overall standings – a superb result for a young driver who had never raced before the start of the 2018 campaign.

Fraser last appeared in the Advertiser in August after securing his first overall podium of the season in the Solway Coast Rally

But the 15-year-old’s hopes of climbing up the standings suffered a major blow in the very next round, the Memorial Gardens Stages in Arbroath.

While battling for third place, the Hermitage Academy pupil rolled his Citroen C1, badly damaging it and leaving him not just with zero points from that event, but also from the Autumn Kames Junior Rally, held in East Ayrshire the following weekend.

The final event of the season was the NHMC Cadwell Stages Junior Rally on November 17 – and despite having a massively underpowered car compared to the top English and Welsh opposition in the field, and sustaining damage through contact with back-markers, Fraser’s lap times were still good enough to see him climb into the top ten.

But on the fifth stage, Fraser found his path blocked by several safety tyres displaced by front-runners on a corner due to fluid on the track – he ended up ‘beached’ on a tyre which took the marshals more than three minutes to remove, dropping Fraser to 13th overall on the day.

The championship was won by Lewis Haining from Dumfries, with Aberdeen driver Johnnie MacKay finishing runner-up.

Dad George said: “Overall it was a great learning experience for Fraser – and with the Citroen C1 being prepared for next season, he is confident he can battle for the championship.

“Many thanks to Steven Brown, Fraser’s co-driver, and our sponsors – Baxter and Gillespie Painting Contractors Ltd, HBR Accident and Repair, Kenneth Brown Motor Engineering, Artex and Akzo Nobel and everybody else who has assisted over the past year.”

Anyone interested in sponsoring Fraser’s championship challenge in 2019 should contact George on 07891 813062.