SOL RALLY BARBADOS 2013 DATES ANNOUNCED

On-line entries for Sol Rally Barbados 2013 will open on November 1 on the event’s official web site - www.rallybarbados.bb – as the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) targets yet another milestone in the 24-year history of its premier event. Subject to final ratification by the island’s governing body, the Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF), Sol RB13 will take place on Saturday and Sunday, June 1/2, with Scrutineering and the Sol Go Further King of the Hill ‘shakedown’ the previous weekend, May 25/26.   Over the past two years, 47 first-time visitors have carried the number of International competitors hosted by the event since 1990 to more than 240, while the total of Regional participants is fast approaching 100. The BRC hopes to move the International total through the 250 barrier in 2013, and might even enjoy the added bonus of a combined total exceeding 350.   Rally Chairman Barry Gale said: “I am amazed we had a record entry in 2012, when the world has been facing such tough economic challenges. Our decision to increase the maximum start list in 2011 from 90 to 100 was largely made to accommodate the regional and international interest, without compromising our growing numbers of local competitors . . . and I am glad we made that choice.   “We started 99 crews in 2012, nine more than ever before, but we actually received 121 on-line entries, a number of which fell by the wayside for financial or logistical reasons . . . many of those were European entries, and we have already heard that they are not intending to miss next year’s event. I am delighted that Sol Rally Barbados has become a ‘must-do’ event for so many overseas competitors – it is a fantastic tribute to all of our volunteer marshals and officials, who help us stage an event which measures up to world-class standards.”   From small beginnings in 1990, the BRC’s premier event has grown into the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international and a key player in the country’s sports-tourism product. The event contributes more than Bds $2.5 million to the island’s economy each year, much of it in vital foreign exchange, and accounts for approaching 3,000 visitor nights at a traditionally quiet time in the tourism calendar.   Since the first overseas competitors took part in the early 1990s – initially, they came from the UK – nearly 30 countries have been represented in the BRC’s blue riband event, including six from the wider Caribbean, with Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago the best represented. From further afield, in addition to the most supportive competitor base of the UK and mainland Europe, the event has attracted competitors from Australia, Canada, Japan, Kenya, South Africa and the United States.   Victory in Sol RB12 for England’s Paul Bird and Scottish co-driver Kirsty Riddick was only the fifth success for an International crew since Northern Ireland’s Kenny McKinstry and Robbie Philpott won in 1993; he won again in 1996, with local co-driver Sean Gill, while fellow Ulsterman Kris Meeke won in 2008 and ’09, co-driven by Paul Nagle.   Just two Regional crews have won, both from Jamaica – Jeff Panton/John de Mercado in 1998 and Gary Gregg/Hugh Hutchinson in 2006. Of the other 16 events, 12 have been won by Barbados rallying legend Roger Skeete, with the remaining victories shared by local drivers Paul Bourne (twice), Trevor Manning and Roger Mayers.   Gale added: “Paul Bird had already been a podium finisher four years in a row, and his victory was a timely reminder that an overseas crew can beat the locals, given commitment and determination . . . and ‘Birdy’ displayed both in bucketloads!” Sol Rally Barbados is a two-day tarmac rally, with up to 24 special stages run on the island’s intricate network of public roads, under road closure orders granted by the Ministry of Transport & Works; the previous weekend’s Sol Go Further King of the Hill ‘shakedown’, run under a similar arrangement, features four timed runs on a roughly three-kilometre stage, the results of which are used to seed the running order for the main event. Sol Rally Barbados and Sol Go Further King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2007; Sol RB13 is the 24th running of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and marks the sixth year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company. PREVIOUS WINNERS 1990 to 2012 Rally Barbados 2012    Paul Bird - ENG/Kirsty Riddick – SCO, Ford Focus WRC08, 1h 02m 50.60s 2011    Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia, Subaru Impreza WRC S12, 1h 05m 51.95s 2010    Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia, Subaru Impreza WRC S12, 1h 01m 07.57s 2009    Kris Meeke - NIR/Paul Nagle - NIR, Subaru Impreza WRC S9, 55m 11.84s 2008    Kris Meeke - NIR/Paul Nagle - NIR, Toyota Corolla WRC, 1h 00m 00.06s 2007    Paul Bourne/Stuart Maloney, Subaru Impreza WRC S9, 57m 34.36s 2006    Gary Gregg - JAM/Hugh Hutchinson - JAM, Ford Focus WRC02, 51m 57.89s 2005    Roger Mayers/Max Ferri, Ford Focus WRC, 58m 46.99s 2004    Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Ford Escort WRC, 1h 03m 04.48s 2003    Paul Bourne/Louis Venezia, Subaru Impreza WRC, 1h 21m 05.43s International All-Stage Rally 2002    Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Ford Escort WRC, 1h 16m 49.80s 2001    Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Ford Escort Cosworth, 37m 53.21s 2000    Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Ford Escort Cosworth, 43m 57s 1999    Trevor Manning/Michael Ward, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V, 1h 03m 14s 1998    Jeffrey Panton - JAM/John de Mercado - JAM, Toyota Celica GT4, 51m 15s 1997    Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Peugeot 306 S16, 55m 55s 1996    Kenny McKinstry - NIR/Sean Gill, Ford Escort RS2000, 37m 02s 1995    Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Peugeot 205GTi, 37m 04s 1994    Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Peugeot 205GTi, 38m 55s 1993    Kenny McKinstry - NIR/Robbie Philpott - NIR, Subaru Legacy RS, 43m 24s 1992    Roger Skeete/Dave Crawford - ENG, Peugeot 205GTi, 24m 26s 1991    Roger Skeete/Roger Fields, Peugeot 205GTi, 15m 46s 1990    Roger Skeete/Charmaine Skeete, Peugeot 205GTi, 16m 08s Key to nationalities (unless shown, competitor is from Barbados): ENG - England; JAM - Jamaica; NIR - Northern Ireland For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com web sites: www.rallybarbados.bb; www.barbadosrallyclub.com