RECORD WRC ENTRY FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS 2013

The final running order for this weekend’s Sol Rally Barbados, the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International, was published by the Barbados Rally Club today (May 28), in advance of this evening’s Briefing Meeting and Welcome Party. Competitors from 11 nations are listed among the 95 crews, headed by a record entry in the WRC classes.

 

From Saturday’s opening stage at Luke Hill in St Lucy to the climax of day two, the Power Stage between Padmore Village and Golden Grove in St Philip, competitors will face 22 closed-road tarmac special stages and a total stage distance of 115 kilometres.

 

Seeded from the results of last Sunday’s Scotiabank King of the Hill, Neil Armstrong and Barry Ward will start at number one in the Monster/Sol/Chefette/Digicel/Virgin Atlantic/Gunk/Hankook Tyres/Redline Fuels/Simpson Finance/Simpson Motors Suzuki SX4 WRC. At two is last year’s winner, England’s Paul Bird, with new Welsh co-driver Aled Davies in the Frank Bird Poultry/Rapid Solicitors/Fuchs Titan Race Oils Ford Focus WRC08, while 12-time winner Roger Skeete, carries three, co-driven in the Sol/Michelin/Simpson Motors/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre Subaru Impreza WRC S12 by Louis Venezia.

 

Roger and Barry Mayers are the top 2wd seeds, starting at six in the Chefette/Digicel/Pennzoil/Illusion Graphics/Hankook WR Starlet, with Josh Read/Mark Jordan (Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook/SDRR/Weetabix/Royal Purple/EZone/Coffee Bean Toyota Starlet) at seven and Ian and Robert Warren (Simpson Motors/Automotive Art Suzuki Swift) at 10.

 

In addition to the battle for overall and 2wd supremacy, there will be 14 separate classes contested, with island competitors pitting their skills against overseas entries in all but the two historic classes.

 

Sol Rally Barbados 2013 – statistics

• 95 crews on the final running order

• a record 30 International entries

• a record 13 entries in the World Rally Car classes

• competitors from 11 nations (including Barbados)

• 61 International drivers or co-drivers – 22 new to the event

• eight drivers or co-drivers from the wider Caribbean, two new to the event

 

 

New York businessman’s determination pays off for Sol RB13

 

New York-based Irish businessman Michael O’Leary’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X emerged from the Bridgetown Port today (Wednesday), more than 12 months after he first decided to compete in Sol Rally Barbados. His determination to do so, despite numerous potential barriers being put in his way, has finally been rewarded.

 

After he was unable to resolve some issues with shipping the car last year, Sol RB Rally Office Manager Jeanne Crawford started to investigate options as soon as he placed an entry for Sol RB13 in the first week of January. Shipping was arranged direct from New York to Barbados, the car loaded into a container with spares and delivered to the NY Port on May 7, to sail on May 11, arriving in the island on May 25. Two days before sailing, however, O’Leary discovered that the transit time to Barbados had changed: instead of 14 days, it would take at least 19 days, with the car arriving on Friday this week (May 31) . . . or possibly later.

 

Crawford says: “Panic took over! Much of that Friday was spent confirming the transit, as it seems the schedule had changed that week, also keeping Mike advised and eventually getting his permission to have the car removed from the load list. With the container held back, it then became a question of how to get it to Barbados in time, and the only option was to ship from Miami.

 

“Thanks to Warren Barnes at Schumacher Cargo Logistics, who was in California, co-ordinating this, we achieved what seemed impossible. He had the container removed from the Port and transported to their warehouse, where the car and spares were unpacked and loaded into a transporter, which he had also sourced.

 

“The car then set off to the Port of Palm Beach, where it arrived as scheduled at 8am last Monday (May 20). It was met by Charles Gittens of Express Consolidation Systems to prepare customs paperwork and pack it ready for sailing last Thursday on the Tropic Carib. The Evo was out of the container, and on Barbados soil at 9.00am Tuesday.”

 

Crawford summed it all up, saying: “Words don’t really tell the whole story of the calls, the e-mails and the commitment of everyone involved in ensuring that the car would arrive in Barbados in time. Through all of this, Mike has remained committed to doing Sol Rally Barbados and we look forward to seeing him and brother John competing after what has been a rather stressful couple of weeks.”

 

Sol Rally Barbados 2013 (June 1/2) and Scotiabank King of the Hill (May 26) are organised and promoted by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007; title sponsors are the Sol Group and Scotiabank. Marketing partners are Simpson Motors, LIME, Automotive Art, Banks and Karcher; official partners are the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, Barbados Tourism Authority, Tourism Development Corporation, Divi Southwinds Beach Resort, Geest Line and Virgin Atlantic Airways; associate sponsors are Chefette, Field Insurance, Glacial Pure, Little Switzerland, Redline Fuels, Stoute’s Car Rental and West Indies Rum Distillery.

 

For media information only. No regulatory value.

 

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

web sites: www.rallybarbados.bb; www.barbadosrallyclub.com