Swann & Garrod ‘Want to win’ SOL Rally Barbados

Britain’s Rob Swann, the leading European contender of recent years, arrives in the island next Monday determined to win Sol Rally Barbados 2020. He posted his on-line entry two days before the closing date after constant juggling with Covid testing, travel and quarantine arrangements for himself and his Welsh co-driver and friend Darren Garrod, who faced even more complicated protocols to get from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, where he was competing last weekend.

Swann said: “I have Darren back with me for this event, fresh from co-driving for Ruari Bell in JWRC, so he has had to go through a lot of testing and travelling to make the journey from the Med to the Caribbean. Like me, though, he really wants to win this event and that is why we have gone to such a lot of effort to make the rally this year.”

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Duckworth confirms SOL Rally Barbados return

Former UK National Rally Champion Roger Duckworth, a podium finisher on his last two visits to Sol Rally Barbados, has confirmed he will return for the ninth time for Sol RB20 (May 29-31), although he will miss the previous Sunday’s Flow King of the Hill. He and co-driver Mark Broomfield kicked off their 30th season as a rallying partnership at Cadwell Park in the east of England last Sunday (February 2), when they finished 10th in the TJS Self Drive Alan Healy Memorial Stages.

Worswick, friends and fun at SOL Rally Barbados

Britain’s Nigel Worswick will celebrate his 10th consecutive visit to participate in Sol Rally Barbados this year with a fun-filled head-to-head battle with old friend Philip Burton, who is competing in the island for the first time, after visiting as service crew in the past. Having driven his Ford Escort WRC to an island best of eighth overall and second in Modified 4 in Sol RB19, Worswick will return with the MkII Escort in which he first contested the event in 2011, with Burton at the wheel of a near-identical car.

Panton and Swann weigh SOL Rally Barbados options

Britain’s Rob Swann is in upbeat mood about Sol Rally Barbados 2020 after winning last Sunday’s (December 29) Mini Tempest Rushmoor Stages in the South of England on his second outing to assess a Ford Fiesta WRC. Runner-up in the Caribbean’s biggest motor sport International three times, he lost out in 2017 and ‘18 to Jamaica’s Jeffrey Panton, who is reviewing his own options ahead of Sol RB20 with an entry on a single-venue event in the UK next month in a Fiesta R5.

Neither finished Sol RB19: the engine of Swann’s Subaru Impreza WRC S12B failed on Friday evening, then Panton retired after a dramatic Sunday morning accident which destroyed his Ford Focus WRC06. While both visitors have driven their way in to the hearts of island fans, the resultant victory for local rising star Dane Skeete (Impreza S12B) was warmly celebrated following Panton’s run of four wins since Sol RB15.