SOL RALLY BARBADOS 2011 TO HOST THE G-WRC

Sol Rally Barbados 2011 (June 4/5), the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international, will host the second round of the G-WRC – an acronym for Gentleman's World Rally Class - an informal competition between island regular Steve Perez and fellow historic rallying enthusiasts, South African Geoff Bell and Britain’s Andrew Siddall.    Perez will return to his roots this year, driving the Kick Energy Drink Porsche 911 RSR, first campaigned in Barbados in 2008 by former World Champion Bjorn Waldegard – Perez won the 2003 British Historic Rally Championship (BHRC) in a 911, then the 2004 ANCRO and 2010 BTRDA titles in modern Ford Focus WRCs. This will be his sixth appearance in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event - his best results are a hat-trick of fourth places in 2006-08 - and the second for co-driver Paul Spooner.   Prize for the winner of the G-WRC is a case of “the finest champagne”, paid for by the two losers, and Perez is already playing catch-up - the challenge started on the Rallye Clasico Isla Mallorca, run on the popular Spanish island last week (March 10-12), where he fought back in changeable weather conditions to finish 24th in his Lancia Stratos after an electrical problem cost him 15 minutes on stage two. He said: “The wet weather helped, as we are running the car in gravel trim and I've a lot of experience in slippery conditions . . . but a lot of the locals were going off.   “Probably more important, it was a finish in the G-WRC and, although Andrew and Geoff beat me on this occasion, I'm hoping to reverse the result when we resume battle in Barbados, as I don't plan on buying the champagne later in the year!"   After Barbados, where Perez may benefit from some ‘local knowledge’, the trio travel to Belgium for the Ypres Historic Rally, which runs alongside the Intercontinental Rally Challenge round (June 24/25), before heading to Sweden for the Midnight Sun Rally (July 13-16). After a long break, the final two events are back-to-back: the East African Safari Classic (November 19-28) - all three are entered in Datsun 260Zs - is followed by the Roger Albert Clark Rally in the forests of northern England (December 2-5).   Yorkshireman Siddall rallied for around 10 years from the early 1980s, initially in a Mini 1275GT, then a Vauxhall Nova GTE, in which he finished 60th on the 1990 Lombard RAC Rally, in the days when Britain’s round of the WRC would start nearly 200 crews – 81 retired that year – and run through 41 special stages. He returned to the sport in recent years, contesting the BHRC, in which he finished fourth overall and class Champion last year, driving the Siddall and Hilton Products Ford Escort RS2000 MkI, in which he and regular co-driver Colin ‘Captain’ Thompson will contest Sol Rally Barbados.   His first Safari Classic was in 2009 - he finished 25th in a Datsun 280Z (Perez finished third in a 260Z), then he journeyed to New Zealand for the Silver Fern Historic Trophy last November, where he finished fourth overall and highest-placed European visitor in his ex-Roger Clark Cossack-liveried MkII Escort (LAR 800P). There was no time to celebrate, however, as the 2010 Roger Albert Clark started in just three days’ time; after flying back to the UK, he overcame some of the worst rallying conditions in living memory to finish 12th overall and class-winner in his Dansport-prepared MkI.   Like Siddall, Bell, who lives in Steenberg in South Africa, is enjoying his second crack at rallying, having been a regular navigator in events in Kenya in the 1970s. He is also familiar with some of the G-WRC events, and has competed in the Safari Classic three times, with a best result of 10th overall (and a class win) in a Datsun 180B in 2009.   Last year, he tackled three more of the world’s most exotic events - driving a Tuthill-run Porsche 911, he finished sixth overall (again, with a class win) in the Midnight Sun, then an impressive third in Morocco on the 2800-kilometre Rallye International du Maroc behind former WRC works drivers Gregoire de Mevius (Kronos Racing 911) and Michelle Mouton (Tuthill 911). In November, he also tackled the Silver Fern, finishing 16th in the Kick Energy-backed Ford Escort RS, in which he will compete in Barbados – the same car in which BRC Vice-Chairman Mark Hamilton finished the UK’s Trackrod Rally Yorkshire in 2007; Bell’s co-driver is yet to be confirmed.   Sol Rally Barbados (June 4/5, 2011) and Shell V-Power King of the Hill (May 29) are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2007; Sol RB2011 is the 22nd running of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and marks the start of a second three-year term of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.   For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com web site: www.rallybarbados.bb