Bird’s Barnados bid scuppered

Following on from his superb podium place on last weekend’s First Citizens King of the Hill, Cumbrian driver Frank Bird’s hopes of victory on 2022 Sol Rally Barbados were dashed when he crossed the finish ramp in second place but was declared Outside Total Lateness (OTL).

Barbados King of the Hill podium for Bird

Cumbrian driver Frank Bird retured to rally action this weekend with a superb performance to claim third place on the First Citizens King of the Hill which marked the opening action of 2022 Sol Rally Barbados festival.

Frank Bird heads for Sol Rally Barbados 2022

Rising British star Frank Bird will this year realise his long-held ambition to compete in Sol Rally Barbados this Frank BirdJune, the event won twice in a Ford Focus WRC07 by his father Paul.

Having started the season with victory in the MGJ Engineering Brands Hatch Winter Stages Rally earlier this month, the team confirmed that Penrith-born Bird and Cumbrian-based co-driver Jack Morton, who sat with Paul Bird when he finished third in Sol RB18, will enter the FIA R5 class in a Frank Bird Poultry-sponsored and Dom Buckley Motorsport-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally2 with assistance from Hager, Fuchs Titan Oils and Aico.

Block and Gelsomino win SOL Rally Barbados 2020

American motor sport star Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino claimed a memorable victory in Sol Rally Barbados 2020 at the weekend (October 31/November 1), defeating not only three of the event’s most successful drivers of recent years, but also the elements . . . and doing so from the fast-growing FIA R5 class. Postponed from its regular June date because of the coronavirus pandemic, the 31st running of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event was hit by frequent and heavy rain showers, which made for treacherous conditions, testing drivers to the full.

Campaigning a brand-new EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta Rally2 with support from Ford Performance and Monster Energy, which he had driven for only a few hours on Thursday – and that was his first drive in a Fiesta R5 for 15 months – Block dispelled the doubts of the naysayers with a masterly drive. On stage at the Vaucluse Raceway Prizegiving, he said: “It was a really great event with great competition. What struck me more was the atmosphere; it was brilliant with the competitors and all the fans.”

Ken Block to meet fans before SOL Rally Barbados

American motor sport star Ken Block is in the island and looking forward to this weekend’s (October 31/November 1) Sol Rally Barbados 2020, an event he says he has “wanted to do for years”. And before he gets down to the serious business of competition, he will participate in a socially-distanced Meet & Greet and Autograph Session with fans at Automotive Art, Welches, tomorrow evening (Friday).

Block and long-term co-driver Alex Gelsomino were originally entered in the Hoonigan Racing Division’s reimagined 1990s Ford Escort Cosworth – ‘CossieV2’ – as part of the second Cossie World Tour but date changes around the world caused by the coronavirus pandemic changed their plans. They will now campaign a brand-new EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta Rally2 among the record entry of seven in the island’s fast-growing FIA R5 class, with support from Ford Performance and Monster Energy.

Skeete and Mayhew win Flow King of the Hill

Dane Skeete and Tyler Mayhew started their 2020 motor sport campaign in fine style yesterday (Sunday) with victory in Flow King of the Hill, beating Jamaica’s Jeff Panton by just four-hundredths of a second, the smallest winning margin in the 13-year history of the event. Having led after the first of four timed runs, Britain’s Rob Swann finished third, while Barry Mayers claimed two-wheel-drive honours, sixth overall.

In glorious sunshine, thousands of fans headed to the south-east corner of the island to line the 3.3-kilometre route from Golden Grove to Stewart’s Hill, with Covid protocols much in evidence as the crowd followed the advice of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) to Stay Safe, Stay Sanitized, Stay Distanced, Stay Masked, Stay Alert & Spectate Safely. To the accompaniment of ZR van-style horns, Roger Mayers and co-driver Sean Corbin warmed up the crowd in Car Zero ahead of the 42 competitors, who ran in reverse order of seeding, from Clubman up to WRC.

Roger Mayers is car zero for SOL Rally Barbados

Former Rally Barbados winner Roger Mayers is eagerly looking forward to his new role as Zero Car driver for Sunday’s (October 25) Flow King of the Hill and Sol Rally Barbados 2020 the following weekend. Contacted by the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) last week to see if he was available, Mayers says: “The morning after I’d agreed to do it, I woke up with a big grin on my face. This is going to be fun!”

With regular co-driver Sean Corbin on the notes, he will drive one of GuavaTech’s stable of BimmaCup cars in Frosteez, Hankook and Rubis livery. Mayers is currently without a useable rally car after he stripped down some major components of his giant-killing WR Starlet and sent them to the UK as moulds for replacements to be built, expecting the coronavirus to result in a much longer stoppage.

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.”

Reunion for UK crews and cars at SOL Rally Barbados

Two British rally crews will cross the Atlantic this month to be reunited with cars they had spent many hours rebuilding in readiness for Sol Rally Barbados 2020. Despite the additional challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, returnees Simon Nutter and Chris Surman pressed on regardless to complete the work they had started early in the year to ensure they could make the trip.

Former FIA Middle East F2 Rally Champion Nutter and co-driver wife Fiona will run their Competition Supplies/Westgate Tyres & Exhaust/Scotty’s Cheap Car Hire/Coconut Court Beach Hotel/Udale’s Quality Meats Toyota Corolla in Historic 1, while Surman and his partner Zowie Boiston will compete in their Group N Warmstyle Motorsport/Top Performance Services/Ignition Motor Sport/Syvecs Subaru Impreza.

Louden & Sherman boost Sol Rally Barbados 4WD entry

Confirmation today (October 6) of the participation in Sol Rally Barbados 2020 of Scotland’s Fraser Louden and George Sherman of the United States has boosted the four-wheel-drive entry for this month’s 31st running of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event. Along with other overseas visitors, they have earned praise from the organisers for the efforts they are making to travel to the island against the background of the restrictions required by Covid-19 protocols.

Following its postponement as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event will now run over the weekend of October 31/November 1, with the Prizegiving on Sunday evening at the Vaucluse Raceway, where the 19th and final stage will end. The previous Saturday, Bushy Park will host Scrutineering, while Flow King of the Hill on the Sunday will return to Stewarts Hill, running on a similar course to last year and once again the basis for seeding the main event.