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Reigning Champion Stuart Maloney of Barbados heads into the summer break leading the 2023 R5 Rally Championship, presented by First Citizens, by a slender seven points from Jamaica’s Jeffrey Panton following the season’s marquee events, First Citizens King of the Hill (June 4) and Sol Rally Barbados (June 9-11). With four scoring rounds run, the island’s first-ever national motor sport championship, administered by the Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF), is now on pause until round seven in early September.

New Zealanders Hayden Paddon and John Kennard won last weekend’s (June 9-11) Sol Rally Barbados 2023 after an epic battle with defending champions Dane Skeete and Tyler Mayhew. Lying second going into the last of 20 special stages, the Honda SuperSpecial at Bushy Park Barbados, the Kiwis turned a 1.2-second deficit into victory by just 0.88s, the smallest winning margin for more than 20 years.

Having claimed a debut victory in First Citizens King of the Hill last Sunday, New Zealanders Hayden Paddon and John Kennard are top seeds for the 33rd running of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event. Published by the BRC at last evening’s (Wednesday) Briefing Meeting at Mahogany Ridge, St Thomas, the entry list of 84 cars for this weekend’s Sol Rally Barbados 2023 includes drivers and co-drivers from 13 countries.

Globe-trotting Kiwis Hayden Paddon and John Kennard added victory in a third continent to their impressive 2023 record at Sunday’s (June 4) First Citizens King of the Hill (KotH). Already leading the European Rally Championship and their domestic series in New Zealand, they won the final shakedown before Sol Rally Barbados (June 9-11) on a day that challenged the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) as much as the competitors.