Corbin, Swann take top honours

Neil Corbin is the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) champion driver elect, following last Sunday’s delayed final round, the BRC Winter Rally.

Victory in his SuperModified 1 Toyota Starlet with co-driver Matthew Staffner maintained their 100 per cent win rate in the 2020 Driver’s and Class Championships and earned the crew their second overall championship, adding to that won in 2012 from Modified 6.

Corbin’s second champion driver title also adds a sixth Class Championship to his cv, all achieved in the Starlet, which has been steadily developed over the years.

He dominated M6 on his way to the 2012 title before winning the class again twice in the next three years and again in 2016, the first year it was renamed M1.

Since a successful move to SM1 and another class crown in 2017, Corbin has had a couple of lean years but said he was thrilled with the success.

“It’s been a long time since being in contention for the championship and they are hard to win,” he said.

“This year has been challenging for many persons and at one point I wasn’t going to drive, but when things opened up, I found some motivation.

“I didn’t have a highly competitive group this season but a consistent year of fun and entertainment was welcome, so a championship is icing on the cake.”

Britain’s Rob Swann won the Winter Rally in his Ford Fiesta WRC in a total elapsed time of 16 minutes, 41.09 seconds, his second victory with former BRC Champion Sean Gill as co-driver.

They previously won the Sunoco Shakedown Stages in 2016 in Swann’s Subaru Impreza WRC S12B. Sunday’s win confirmed Swann as provisional 4wd and WRC Champion, beating Jamaica’s Jeff Panton to both titles. With Bajan Jason Cozier on the notes, Panton finished second on Sunday, just under six seconds behind in his Fiesta, with FIA R5 class-winners Stuart and Justin Maloney (Skoda Fabia) third, another 10 seconds adrift.

“Finally everything came together. I knew I had the pace, but still had to put it together to get the win,” Swann said.

“Normally the racetrack bits aren’t my thing but we got a good lead in the morning and managed it for the afternoon. Big thanks to my wife Marie, as we would’ve celebrated 22 years of marriage on Saturday and we have never spent an anniversary apart.”

Panton, meanwhile, praised Swann’s effort but said he was already looking ahead to improvements next year.

“Rob drove brilliantly and it took a long time to get close to his times with some aggressive driving,” said the Jamaican.

“Kudos to him as he was the better driver today. I still don’t feel as confident at high-speed as I should, so some testing next year will be important to find the right setup.”

Barry Mayers and Ben Norris (SuperModified 2 Ford Fiesta) placed sixth overall and was the top 2wd in Sunday’s eight-stage event but Andrew Jones and Lindsey Pilkington were provisional 2wd and SM2 champions in their Ford Escort MkII.

While Mayers said he was pleased with the win “given the disappointment of Sol Rally Barbados”, Jones was equally happy after a battle with Josh Read’s Toyota Starlet.

Meanwhile, the Maloneys topped the R5 times on all eight stages in the final round, even splitting Swann and Panton in their Fiesta WRCs twice on the new 3.2-kilometre Stewart’s Hill to Society stage.

Roger Hill and Graham Gittens tied up the R5 class title in their Fabia, finishing fourth on Sunday – six seconds behind Maloney and just one second ahead of Andrew Mallalieu and Geoff Goddard in their Fiesta after an event-long tussle.

The class battles left to resolve, in Modified 3 where the BMW M3s of Ahmed Esuf and David St Hill were tied for the lead before the weekend, failed to materialize.

St Hill’s car developed engine problems after SS1, on which he had been just two-tenths quicker than Kurt Thompson (M3 Compact), with Esuf 5secs adrift.

Thompson went on to win every stage while Esuf lived up to his growing reputation as a crowd-pleaser.

It was also close in Clubman 2 where Jason Downey could maintain his advantage over early-season pace-setter Stuart Garcia by finishing second, even if the former class champion were to win.

With ever-increasing seat time boosting her confidence, however, Natya Soodeen was fastest in the battle of the BimmaCup cars on the first stage, although Garcia moved ahead on SS2 to claim a class lead he was not to lose.

(PR/BT)