SOL RALLY BARBADOS BOOST AT RALLYE SUNSEEKER

Four-time Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Group Champion Neil Armstrong will contest the opening round of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship. His entry in Rallye Sunseeker International (February 25/26) is a further boost to the major Sol Rally Barbados 2011 promotion already announced for that weekend.

Backed by the Sol Group and the Tourism Development Corporation (TDC), Armstrong will drive a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, prepared by North Yorkshire-based MSR Motorsport and fully liveried to promote Sol RB2011 (June 4/5), the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international.

It is the 29-year-old Bajan driver’s second visit to Sunseeker, based in the British south coast resorts of Bournemouth and Poole: two years ago, he and co-driver Max Ferri – winner of Rally Barbados 2005 alongside Roger Mayers (Ford Focus) - finished 17th overall and ninth in Group N . . . for both, it was their first rally outside the Caribbean.

At that time, Rallye Sunseeker was the opening round of the ANCRO National Rally Championship – the series won by Barbados regulars Steve Perez and Paul Bird in 2004 and ’05 respectively – and its elevation to the British Rally Championship will present Armstrong and Ferri with a new challenge.

Armstrong is certainly up for it: “I can’t wait to have another crack at Sunseeker! Max and I had such a fantastic time in 2009 that, when the opportunity came up to do it again, I jumped at it without thinking twice. We should be better prepared this time, with a shakedown session planned for the Thursday, then the recce on Friday. Hopefully, I will be a bit more comfortable than I was in 2009 and can start at a decent pace.”

MSR Motorsport’s Mark Robson said: “We’re pleased to be running Neil for the second time. Although it will be a British Rally Championship event this year, I think the experience he gained last time round, along with the recce, will all go towards what we hope will be a good result for him and the team.”

Rally Barbados organiser, the BRC, has already joined forces with the London office of the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) to present the winning crew in Rallye Sunseeker National with free entry and shipping to Sol RB2011, plus flights, accommodation and rental car, an award valued at around US $8,500 (£5,500).

BRC Chairman Geoff Noel will represent the Club in the UK along with vice-chairman, Mark Hamilton, who said: “I am really excited about this. The Club’s marketing team has been working hard for some months to pull the different elements of this together; thanks to the support from our title sponsor, the Sol Group, the BTA in London, the TDC in Barbados and Neil Armstrong himself, we’ll be pulling off the biggest single promotion for a Caribbean motor sport event ever staged outside the region.”

In addition to the winner’s prize, the promotion includes a major BTA presence at the Friday night Ceremonial Start on Poole Quay and Saturday’s Somerley Speed Festival, staged alongside the keynote spectator stage at Somerley Park, home of event patron Viscount Somerton. The prize will be presented on Saturday evening during the Richard Burns Foundation Charity Dinner & Auction at the Bournemouth Highcliff Marriott Hotel, which serves as Rally HQ over the weekend.

Since his debut in a front-wheel-drive Toyota Starlet in 2002, Armstrong has earned the respect of Barbados fans with his press-on driving style; he won the local Modified 6 class in RB2004, but was forced out two years later – he was in the top 10 at the time - following an accident on a road section, for which he was blameless.

When he switched to a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, his first experience in competition of four-wheel-drive, he quickly put his stamp on the category, with Group N wins in Rally Jamaica 2006 and RB2007 and the class title in the BRC Championship in both years. With the car upgraded to Group A spec, he won the Club’s M8-A class in 2008 & ’09, then finished fourth overall in Rally Trinidad 2010.

Returning to the Starlet last year, now rebuilt in much-modified form, Armstrong won SuperModified 9 in Sol RB2010, finishing 11th overall, along with his regular local co-driver, Barry Ward.

Sol Rally Barbados (June 4/5, 2011) and Shell V-Power King of the Hill (May 29) are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2007; Sol RB2011 is the 22nd running of the Club’s annual International All-Stage Rally and marks the start of a second three-year term of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com

web site: www.rallybarbados.bb