Maloney, Yearwood top seeds for Sol Rally Barbados

Following their debut victory in First Citizens King of the Hill (KotH) last Sunday, Zane Maloney and Kreigg Yearwood are top seeds for the 32nd running of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event. The entry list of 85 cars for this weekend’s Sol Rally Barbados 2022, which includes drivers and co-drivers from 11 countries, was published by the BRC at Wednesday evening’s briefing meeting at the Divi Southwinds Beach Resort, Christ Church.

After becoming the youngest driver to win KotH since it was first run in 2008, the 18-year-old FIA Formula 3 racer and his experienced co-driver will lead the field over the starting ramp at Sol Speightstown at 10.30a.m. on Saturday. His Skoda Fabia R5 is one of a record number of 15 entries in the FIA R5 class, one cause of the highest-placed two-wheel drive (2wd) car being seeded outside the top 10 for only the second time since the inaugural KotH.

The teenager will be followed over the ramp by his uncle Stuart, whose co-driver Kristian Yearwood is brother to Kreigg; driving a newer Fabia Rally2. The elder Maloney increased his lead in the R5 Rally Championship presented by First Citizens last Sunday, as Zane is not registered for points. Starting at three will be Britain’s Frank Bird and Jack Morton in a Ford Fiesta Rally2. While this is the 22-year-old driver’s first visit to compete, Morton has done so before, seeded at two alongside Bird’s father Paul in Sol Rally Barbados 2018, when they finished third in his Ford Focus WRC07.

Winners of Sol Rally Barbados 2019 and KotH 2020 Dane Skeete and Tyler Mayhew will start fourth in their Subaru Impreza WRC S12, heading what is now a five-strong WRC class after Britain’s Rob Swann retired his Impreza S12B on last Sunday’s third run with mechanical issues. Swann and Welsh co-driver Darren Garrod have reverted to their Fiesta Rally2 and will start at six, behind the similar car of Jamaica’s Jeff Panton and Michael Fennell Jnr, four-time winners of both KotH and Sol RB since 2015.

Three more British crews, each equipped with a WRC class Fiesta S2000T, complete the top 10, sandwiching flamboyant island driver Mark Thompson. With co-driver Kurt Seabra, Thompson will start his Modified 4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX at nine, with Kevin Procter/Patrick Walsh and Andy Scott/Tom Woodburn ahead at seven and eight, while an impressive performance on his island debut means Procter’s nephew Joe Cunningham will start at 10 with co-driver Josh Beer.

With eight more R5 cars immediately outside the top 10 and no start number 13, the highest-placed 2wd car is seeded at 20. For the first time, it is the Ford Escort MkII of Andrew Jones and Lindsey Pilkington, who finished second to Roger Mayers and Barry Ward (Toyota WR Starlet) in KotH – they were 16th and 18th overall – but it was already known that Mayers would not run this weekend. Mayers started at five in Sol RB19, the highest-ever 2wd seeding since the current system was introduced in 2008, with a record-equalling four 2wd cars in the top 10, which had also happened when this year’s Car Zero driver Rhett Watson was top 2wd seed in his BMW M3 in both 2016 and 2017.

Jones will find his 2wd opposition close by, with the BMW M3s of Logan Watson/Andrew Croney and Derek Edwards/Damien Johnson and the Vauxhall Astra VXR of Adrian and Dominic Linton seeded at 21, 24 and 25 respectively. In addition to the battle for overall and 2wd supremacy, there are 14 contested classes, in nearly all of which island competitors will enjoy the challenge of pitting their skills against regional or international entries, or both.

There are three loops of three stages on Saturday – Banks Dark Hole (5.6km), Kure Pickering (6.8km) and Automotive Art Kendal (7.8km) – which will be run in the reverse order and direction on Sunday. For the first time since 2018, crews will need their light pods on Saturday evening as night rallying returns, while Sunday’s 19th and final stage, the K&N/Denso Racing SuperSpecial, which will count towards the final result, will be run under the all-arena lighting at Bushy Park Barbados making for a total stage distance of 124.20km. Once completed, competitors will head for The Hill, where fans and service crew will already have gathered for a well-deserved after-party.

Sol Rally Barbados 2022 statistics:

• 85 crews on the final running order

• 33 overseas entries

• 65 overseas drivers and co-drivers, 18 new to the event

• 52 local entries

• 20 female competitors, two drivers, 19 co-drivers

• cars from 16 manufacturers, BMW and Ford equally the best-represented with 26 models each, followed by Honda and Toyota, also tied with six apiece. (RB)