Downham Market rally driver Richard Archer and his co-driver John Connor have fired their season back on target after a disastrous start.

After failing to finish the first two events of this year's BRC Challenge – the British Rally Championships support series – the duo claimed a solid third overall on the recent Pirelli Rally, using the Kielder forest in Northumberland.

'The start to this year has been a disaster,' said Connor. 'Two no finishes really put us on the back foot. We tested the car on Tuesday before the event and managed to iron out a few problems. Finishing third on this tough forest event was a good comeback for us, even if not without problems.

'Richard was far from happy with the cars handling and we suffered a couple of excursions into the undergrowth but managed to avoid the notorious ditches. We had also lost third gear and that was costing us handfuls of time.'

The next round, The Jim Clark Memorial, returns to tarmac on the closed Scottish roads around the town of Duns, south of Edinburgh.

'This event is one of my favourites,' said Archer. 'I have second here in 2009 and won it in 2010 and 2011 – so I intend to make 2012 a hat-trick.

'I am working flat out to make sure the car is perfect. We have a good set of base pace notes to start from and John and I will be perfecting these for the event during the reconnaissance. The season is far from over. If we can take a good result here we can still win this championship.'