Reigning champion driver Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant) starts his title defence in the Barbados Rally Club’s Shakedown Stages today. (Picture courtesy BRC.)

50 crews up for BRC opening

Article by Ezra Stuart

Fifty crews are listed on the running order for today’s Shakedown Stages, the biggest entry for the opening round of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Driver’s & Class Championships for more than a decade.

Two-time Sol Rally Barbados winners Dane Skeete and Tyler Mayhew are seeded at number one in their Subaru Impreza WRC S12 for the event starting at the Service Park at Hayman’s Plantation in St Peter at 10:30 a.m. with the finish at approximately 5:30 p.m.

There are no fewer than 11 entries in the FIA R5 class snapping at the heels of Skeete and Mayhew, led by Stuart Maloney and Kristian Yearwood in the Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo in which they won last year’s R5 Rally Championship, presented by First Citizens Bank.

Regular overseas visitors Jeff Panton from Jamaica, Rob Swann from the United Kingdom – both now driving Fabias – and the Turks & Caicos’ rally team of Stan and Ben Hartling and Paul Horton, who will be giving his Citroen C3 Rally2 its maiden race in Barbados are joined for the first time since 2015 by Jamaica’s Kyle Gregg.

Gregg will debut his new Ford Fiesta Rally2 while local ace Mark Thompson will also challenge the R5 field in his Modified 4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, while the two-wheel-drive runners are headed by brothers Roger and Barry Mayers in Toyota WR Starlet and Ford Fiesta, respectively, and Logan Watson (BMW M3).

Reigning champion driver Edward Corbin will start his title defence in his Modified 1 Daihatsu Charmant, with strong competition anticipated throughout the classes, particularly in Clubman 2, which has attracted 11 entries.

There will be two venues for today’s opener of the BRC Championship which will comprise seven qualifying rounds this year.

The first 3.90-kilometre stage from Lamberts to Pickerings will run twice in the morning, alternating with two runs from Mount Brevitor to Sailor Gully (3.20km). After lunch, crews will restart at 2:00 p.m. to tackle the reversed Pickerings to Lamberts stage three times, with Mount Brevitor to Sailor Gully running twice, but in the same direction. (PR/EZS)