Duckworth, Procter back for Sol Rally 2022

Two of the UK’s most popular competitors, Roger Duckworth and Kevin Procter, will clock up 24 visits between them when they return for Sol Rally Barbados 2022. And Procter is introducing a new generation to the event, forming a two-car team with his nephew Joe Cunningham.

As the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) celebrates its 65th Anniversary, Sol RB22 is scheduled for the weekend of June 4 & 5, with King of the Hill on the previous Sunday (May 29).

For former ANCRO national champion Duckworth, who finished second in Sol RB19 – his best result – a return this year looked unlikely. “This is even more last minute than usual but I was keen to do Barbados again, but the Goodwood Festival of Speed is too close for shipping my Subaru back in time. So, I have just got a MkI Fiesta R5, partly driven by the fact that if I wanted to do a bit more rallying than I have for the past few years, I really ought to retire the ‘Old Girl’ and only bring her out for events like FoS.”

Duckworth’s R5, which will be sponsored by Technia and co-driven by Mark Broomfield, has been campaigned since new by Stephen Simpson, who won the 2019 Neil Howard Stages at Oulton Park by 37 seconds from Andy Scott, who was driving Procter’s Fiesta that day. He has had little seat time in his first Ford rally car for 25 years. “I managed a few miles of testing last week on a bit of broken up airfield perimeter track, so I have at least got the seat and belts to fit prior to putting it on the boat next week,” he said.

Duckworth has been rallying since 1989 in a variety of cars, including Daihatsu and Ford – he had a very quick home-built Ford Sierra 4×4 V6 – but has remained faithful to Subaru since 1997 . . . until now. He finished 11th overall and highest-placed amateur that year in the Network Q RAC Rally, in his first season in an Impreza 555, then won the 1998 Mintex National Rally Championship in the same car. Duckworth then acquired the Impreza WRC that Colin McRae drove to victory the ’97 Network Q, before it was replaced by the ex-Juha Kankkunen car familiar to island fans and in which he has finished in all but one of his eight visits, winning WRC-2 on four occasions.

Procter will be competing for the 15th time since 2003, with 10 finishes in the top 10 to his credit and only four DNFs, including most recently in Sol RB19, when his first stage win in the island looked set be followed by an elusive podium finish until his gearbox let go on Saturday’s final stage, when he was second. He has competed in seven different cars, a Hyundai, two Subarus and four Fords and Fiesta S2000T in which he finished fourth in Sol RB17 & ’18, now in a striking new Temsa livery. Co-driver will be Patrick Walsh, who shared that disappointing Sol RB19 retirement with Procter and also Simpson’s Oulton Park victory in the Fiesta now owned by Duckworth.

With co-driver Josh Beer, Joe Cunningham will compete in the WRC class, driving the Fiesta S2000T in which Graham Coffey finished seventh in Sol RB19, when his co-driver was Jack Morton, who returns this year sitting with Frank Bird. Cunningham was a regular Class A winner in his Vauxhall Corsa in the early days of the circuit-based Motorsport News Championship and has recently shown his talent in a 2-litre Fiesta R5, winning the 2021 Phoenix Stages amid a handful of podium results, including second place to Bird and Morton at Oulton Park last November.

Cunningham said: “I’m really looking forward to the trip and, as there is no class for my 2-litre R5, we have managed to get a deal together to drive Graham Coffey’s S2000 turbo car. I have to thank Graham for putting his trust in me and Procters Luxury Coach Hire for the support. I hope we can do them proud.” (RB)