DUCKWORTH RETURNS TO SOL RALLY BARBADOS

  Former UK National Rally Champion Roger Duckworth will make his third trip to Sol Rally Barbados this year, bringing to a record-breaking 11 the number of entries in the two classes catering for World Rally Cars. In doing so, he will break a personal record, too – he has rarely rallied outside the UK, twice in Ireland and twice in Portugal, so competing in a country for a third time is a new experience!   Having thoroughly enjoyed his two previous visits – both were prize drives for winning Rallye Sunseeker National – he was quick to enter again, once he knew his car would be ready . . . but that was by no means certain. As he told rallybarbados.net: “Sadly, on the rallying front since last year, there is no story to tell - the car caught fire on the dock when it arrived back from Barbados and it has taken until now to get the repairs done.”   The Intrynsis-sponsored Subaru Impreza WRC S6 falls into WRC-2, where his opposition will be the newer Imprezas of Britain’s Kevin Procter and Rob Swann, plus Dean Serrao of Barbados, and the Toyota Corolla WRCs of Ireland’s Eddie Power and Barbados Toyota dealer Roger Hill. Duckworth’s co-driver will be the Welshman Alun Cook, who has sat with him many times in the past, although not yet in Barbados.   Thanks to the diligent work of the Autosportif crew, the car was ready for a shakedown in yesterday’s (Sunday, April 7) Alan Healy Memorial Stages Rally, a single-venue tarmac rally at the Cadwell Park race circuit in Lincolnshire. Winner last year, Duckworth was seeded at one, but had not competed since Sol RB12: “Apart from the Goodwood Festival of Speed Forest Stage driving a car that used to belong to me (Colin McRae’s 1997 RAC-winning Impreza, P12 WRC), I haven't been out at all! This means I will be somewhat rusty, but am still very much looking forward to Barbados.”   The day started well, Duckworth winning the first stage by six seconds from eventual winner David Turnbull (Impreza S11) . . . but it did not last long: “On the second stage we had an electrical problem, the car cut out several times before stranding us mid-stage. A short investigation found a dodgy connector on the throttle body causing the throttle to keep shutting. Once fixed, we did stages four to 10 (the last) and took fastest on all but one of them.”   Having started rallying in 1989, Duckworth has driven a variety of marques, including Daihatsu and Ford – he had an extremely rapid Ford Sierra 4 x 4 – but, since 1997, has remained faithful to Subaru. He finished 11th overall and highest-placed amateur in Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship, then known as the Network Q RAC Rally, in his first season in an Autosportif-built Impreza 555, then won the Mintex National Rally Championship the following year in the same car.   After a couple of quiet seasons while he concentrated on building a new business, Duckworth returned in the ex-McRae Impreza. That has since been replaced by another former Prodrive Impreza, while Duckworth has remained a loyal customer of British preparation company Autosportif for 16 years.     Bad day at the office as UK competitors shake down   Duckworth wasn’t the only Sol RB regular using Cadwell Park for a final shakedown before shipping. Rob Swann (Subaru Impreza) and Martin Stockdale (BMW M3 Compact) were also on the 80-strong entry list, along with Simon Wallis (Impreza), although he will miss the island’s premier event this year for only the third time since 2003.   Seeded at two, but new to the venue, Swann was on a learning curve. With Duckworth fastest on stage 1, ahead of Turnbull, Swann was third. Duckworth said: “I think Rob chose too soft a tyre, he was 15secs down on us, but he hasn't been here before, so I think it was a reasonable time.”   Just as things started to unravel on stage two for Duckworth, so they did for Swann. Perhaps distracted by passing Duckworth’s stranded Impreza, Swann got off line and thumped a tyre wall at the next corner, although with only minor damage. With no reverse gear in the Impreza, he had to wait until the stage was complete before being moved; unhappy about finishing the day without reverse, he withdrew.   Stockdale enjoyed the early part of the day: “I was posting times inside the top eight, in some pretty high-class company, but had an altercation with a lorry tyre. That will require a new front bumper and a couple of new drive-shafts, but we’re good to go, and something like that won’t stop us coming to Barbados!”   Sol Rally Barbados (June 1/2) and Scotiabank King of the Hill (May 26) 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.   For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com web sites: www.rallybarbados.net; www.barbadosrallyclub.com