Rally Club championship heads for season finale

Two class wins in the recent Autumn Double Header Sprint mean Modified 1 (M1) class leader Edward Corbin will head into October’s final round of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Driver’s and Class Championships leading the Champion Driver title chase.

With a total of 113 points, he has a five-point cushion over Ryan Wood, who leads Clubman 2 (C2), with fellow M1 runner Jermin Pope third another seven points behind.

Competitors in the Winter Rally (October 16) will benefit from the now-traditional enhanced scoring system applied to the season finale – 28 points for a win, 23 for second place, 20 for third and so on down to 10 for 10th place – so there is still much to be settled before year-end.

The Rally Club’s champion driver in 2019, Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant) and former circuit racing champion driver Pope (Honda Civic) have fought hard in M1, while Wood and Sean Corbin, placed eighth overall, have been the class of C2, the season’s most popular class with 12 BimmaCup drivers scoring points. Mark Thompson is fourth with 95 points, his M4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX one of only three four-wheel-drive cars in the top 10, while Darren Lashley in his first season in the BRC Championship remains fifth overall, leading SuperModified 1 in his Toyota Starlet (94pts).

Having dropped out of the top 10 after Sol Rally Barbados 2022 (Sol RB22), reigning BRC champion Stuart Maloney is now sixth after a brace of wins in the Autumn Double Header, tied on 93 points with Stuart Garcia. Maloney (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) and Garcia (BimmaCup Too) respectively lead the FIA R5 and C3 classes. Completing the top 10 are Sol RB22 winner Dane Skeete (Subaru Impreza WRC S12), the only runner in WRC, and M3 leader Logan Watson (BMW M3), equal on 87 points.

With the rapid growth this year of the FIA R5 class – the number based in the island is now in double figures – 16 drivers have scored in the four-wheel drive (4wd) championship, a record since the separate two-wheel drive (2wd) and 4wd titles were introduced in 2011, when 12 4wd cars fought for points. Skeete was the early leader, winning both directions of the Shakedown Double Header, but was trailing Stuart Maloney after First Citizens King of the Hill and day one of Sol Rally Barbados, albeit by just one point. The R5 points-leader’s early retirement on day two, however, handed the advantage back to Skeete, who heads into the final round leading with 108 points, a 23-point cushion to Maloney. Britain’s Rob Swann, who has scored points in both his R5 Fiesta Rally2 and Subaru Impreza WRC S12B, is third on 73, with Mark Maloney and Mark Thompson tied for fourth on 66.

It is tighter in the 2wd championship standings, where just eight points cover the top three. Having won 2wd in the first three rounds, Roger Mayers led early on, but his decision not to contest Sol RB22 left the door open for Edward Corbin to assume the lead, ahead of Watson. Two second-place finishes to Mayers in the Autumn Double-Header, however, have now propelled Watson into the lead with 79 points, seven ahead of Corbin, who is one point ahead of Mayers.

(RB)