News

The Geest Line freighter Benguela Stream set sail from Portsmouth on the English south coast late on Tuesday (April 26) after two nights in port exchanging fruit and other produce from around the Caribbean for a record shipment of 32 rally cars bound for the region’s biggest annual motor sport International, Sol Rally Barbados . . . and local fans will be happy to know that 13 of those cars are Ford Escort MkIIs.

On his first competitive outing at the wheel of his recently-acquired Elegant Hotels/Blue Sky Luxury Subaru Impreza WRC S12B, Britain’s Rob Swann won yesterday’s (Sunday) Sunoco Shakedown Stages. With co-driver Sean Gill, he won eight of the day’s 10 stages, claiming victory by just over 13 seconds from Josh Read, who won an intense see-saw two-wheel-drive battle.

Seeded at number one for Sunday’s (April 24) Sunoco Shakedown Stages, ahead of Roger Hill, Britain’s Rob Swann starts his final preparations for Sol Rally Barbados 2016. Driving his recently-acquired Subaru Impreza WRC S12B in anger for the first time, the 10-stage event presents an ideal chance for a warm-up before Flow King of the Hill and the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event over the next six weeks.

From Australasia to North America, rally teams have been making final preparations for Sol Rally Barbados 2016, as shipping dates draw near. New Zealand rallying legend Mike Marshall bade farewell to his Peugeot 106 S16 on Wednesday (April 13), as it left the Port of Auckland on the first leg of its 20,000-mile round trip to the Caribbean.