Doubly fantastic from Skeete in BRC Autumn Sprint

Dane Skeete won all four runs in each direction of yesterday’s Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Autumn Double Header in the only WRC car in the field. Astern of his Subaru Impreza WRC S12, however, there was a fantastic battle for the places as no fewer than nine other drivers set top six times on the demanding Sailor Gully stage in St Peter.

Stuart Maloney twice finished runner-up to Skeete, winning the 10-strong FIA R5 class in his Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo and finishing within one second of the winner on the longer, southbound reverse run. Mark Thompson (Modified 4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) and Josh Read (Ford Fiesta R5) were third and fourth heading northbound from the Sailor Gully hairpin, swapping positions in the reverse. After missing the morning’s first run replacing a faulty fuel pump, Roger Mayers (SuperModified 2 Toyota WR Starlet) was never headed in two-wheel drive (2wd), finishing ninth and eighth overall.

Stuart Maloney (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) came out on top of a hard-fought battle for the places.

After a light shower of rain shortly before the event was due to start, Skeete set the pace with a first-run time of 1m 28.07s. Maloney was three-tenths adrift, Jamaica’s Jeff Panton third (1:28.54) in his Fiesta Rally2, Read fourth (1:28.87), with Britain’s Rob Swann (Fiesta Rally2) and Mark Maloney (Fabia Rally2 evo) fifth and six. Despite feeling more comfortable after a strong showing in Saturday’s Motoring Club Barbados Inc event ahead of his final outing in the Fiesta, Panton left the road just ahead of the Orange Hill Plantation, damaging the right side of the car and retiring. Read was now Stuart’s closest challenger ahead of Mark Maloney, with Roger Hill (Fabia R5) joining the top six.

Roger Mayers topped the 2wd entries twice in his flying Toyota WR Starlet.

As the times continued to fall – Skeete was now down to 1:23.33 – Read (1:25.65) and Thompson (1:25.86) both moved ahead of Stuart Maloney on the third run, with Swann and Hill still in the game. While Skeete finished on 1:22.15 for victory in round six of the BRC Driver’s and Class Championships, Stuart Maloney found nearly 2secs to claw his way back to second (1:24.34) and extend the gap to Thompson (1:25.12), Read (1:25.55), Mark Maloney (1:25.78) and Swann (1:26.14). The top 10 was completed by Hill, Andrew Mallalieu (Fiesta R5), Mayers and Panton, who must have been wondering how much more he could have achieved but for his accident.

Mark Thompson?s trusty Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX beat all but two of the cars in the FIA R5 class.

After lunch and a further short rain shower, the reverse direction was extended to run from Mount Brevitor through French Village back to the hairpin where the morning runs had started. Once again, Skeete set the pace with a first run time of 2:09.01, with Read, Swann, Mark Maloney, Thompson and Mallalieu completing the top six, with Stuart Maloney ninth after stalling mid-way through the run.

As before, places were shuffled on each run, with all but Skeete and Mallalieu leaving their best until last. Skeete finished on 1:59.64 from his third run for his second victory of the day, with Stuart Maloney’s significantly quicker final run netting him second (2:00.63), just four-tenths ahead of Read (2:01.04), with Thompson heading the rest home, a further 2secs back (2:03.20).

Despite issues, Kevin Armstrong claimed his first class wins in Clubman 3 in his BMW 325i.

Skeete said: “The car worked flawlessly, the team worked flawlessly and we had a peaceful event. Despite the break since Sol Rally Barbados it was easy to get back into it because we had the two double headers back to back this weekend.” FIA R5 winner Maloney added: “I really don’t focus on Dane too much anymore as he is much too fast for us, so I really just try to stay ahead of my class. My game plan is always to try to win while still having some fun. With the uncertainty with the road conditions, I don’t think I was hot out of the box but tried to build as I felt out the stage.”

In 2wd, the main challenge for Roger Mayers came from Modified 3 class-winner Logan Watson, sharing his BMW M3 with brother Rhett, who ran it in SM2. Both were in the mix with the SM2 regulars, Mayers, his brother Barry, who was suffering with a rear handling issue with his Fiesta which looked well out of shape on a number of occasions, and Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII). Logan finished second to Roger in 2wd by eight-tenths and 3secs in the two directions, also 11th overall, beating Barry by half-a-second northbound, then by just two-hundredths on the longer run.

Leader of the BRC Champion Driver title chase Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant) finished 18th overall in both directions and led home the five entries in Modified 1, comfortably beating Jermin Pope (Honda Civic), while Ryan Wood and Sean Corbin shared the BimmaCup victories in the nine-strong Clubman 2, with Allan Kinch and Sacha Soodeen also on the podium. Kevin Armstrong (BMW 325i) claimed his first wins in Clubman 3, beating Stuart Garcia (BimmaCup Too), despite ending the day with his engine ratchet-strapped into place to cure earlier gear-selection issues. (RB)

RESULTS:

BRC Autumn Double Header Sprint

2022 BRC Driver’s & Class Championships, round 6

1st Dane Skeete (Subaru Impreza WRC S12), 1m 22.15s

2nd Stuart Maloney (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 02.19s

3rd Mark Thompson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), + 02.97s

4th Josh Read (Ford Fiesta R5), + 03.40s

5th Mark Maloney Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 03.63s

6th Rob Swann – ENG (Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 03.99s

7th Roger Hill (Skoda Fabia R5), + 04.57s

8th Andrew Mallalieu (Ford Fiesta R5), + 05.61s

9th Roger Mayers (Toyota WR Starlet), + 05.90s

10th Jeffrey Panton – JAM (Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 06.39s

Ford Sierra), 1m 43.20s

2022 BRC Driver’s & Class Championships, round 7

1st Skeete, 1m 59.64s

2nd S Maloney, + 00.99s

3rd Read, + 01.40s

4th Thompson, + 03.56s

5th Hill, + 03.95s

6th M Maloney, + 03.99s

7th Swann – ENG, + 04.85s

8th R Mayers, + 04.90s

9th Mallalieu, + 05.14s

10th Paul Horton – TCI (Ford Fiesta R5), + 06.55s