Rally

Special Stage Schedule

Times indicate Car 1 due

Friday, June 9
1900 SS1 – Sol SuperSpecial, Bushy Park (2.5km)

Saturday, June 10
0945 Restart – Sol Speighstown
1025 SS2 – Dark Hole 1 (4.10km)
1105 SS3 – Chefette Sailor Gully 1 (4.00km)
1130 SS4 – Pickering 1 (7.60km)
1225 SS5 – Dark Hole 2 (4.10km)
1305 SS6 – Chefette Sailor Gully 2 (4.00km)
1330 SS7 – Pickering 2 (7.60km)

Lunch halt – Greenland Agricultural Station

Provisional entry list at May 17

+ some classifications may be subject to scrutineering

Key to nationalities (competitor from Barbados unless shown): ANT – Antigua & Barbuda; CDN – Canada; ENG – England; GUY – Guyana; IRL – Republic of Ireland; JAM – Jamaica; NZL – New Zealand; SCO – Scotland; T&T – Trinidad & Tobago; TCI – Turks & Caicos; USA – United States of America; WAL – Wales

At a glance

Sixty local crews have entered Sol Rally Barbados 2023, the highest number for a decade. In addition to the familiar fan favourites at the sharp end of the overall and 2wd battles, two new-build cars will be seen for the first time, while another two return after many years of inactivity, which the organisers see as an indication that rallying is finally recovering from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

State-of the-art modern rally cars may be battling for overall honours in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event, but there is always a nod to the history of rallying in the entry list for Sol Rally Barbados. The last three UK entries for this year’s event confirmed today (Wednesday) reflect three very different eras of rallying, from the 1960s through the ‘70s and into the early days of four-wheel-drive in the ‘80s.

After a last-minute change of heart just a couple of days before entries closed and rally cars were due to be delivered to Portsmouth in readiness for sailing on the Geest Line freighter Baltic Klipper yesterday (Sunday), Britain’s Nigel Worswick has confirmed he will compete in Sol Rally Barbados this year. He returns with the Ford Escort MkII he first campaigned in the island in 2011, one of three Escorts confirmed for the SuperModified 2 class today, with fellow Brits Graham Haigh and Dick Mauger also returning.

Confirmation today (May 5) that Britain’s Cheryl Spencer will make her eighth trip to compete in Sol Rally Barbados next month brings to 21 the number of women entered in this year’s event, just one short of the record set in Sol RB18. As well as competing in the region’s biggest annual motor sport international, Spencer and husband Barry will be marking the 15th Anniversary of their beachfront wedding.

Marking the 20th Anniversary of his first trip to compete in the island, Britain’s Kevin Procter will return for Sol Rally Barbados next month with the Ford Fiesta S2000T in which he has finished fourth three times since 2017. Also confirmed today (May 2) are entries for Texas-based Scotsman Fraser Louden and fellow-Scot Ian Barclay, their Mitsubishi Evos bringing the entries in the four-wheel-drive classes to 20.

Sol Rally Barbados 2023 will start with a floodlit SuperSpecial at Bushy Park Barbados on Friday, June 9, it was revealed today (Tuesday). As the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) had already confirmed the daylight SuperSpecial and Rally Finish at the St Philip facility on the Sunday afternoon, today’s announcement completes the published details of the format for the 33rd running of its blue riband event.

Fans turn out in their numbers for season’s opening event