[1]Reigning Champion Neil Corbin to debut Toyota GT86
Stuart Maloney is the number one seed for tomorrow’s (Saturday) Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Double-Header Sprint at Bushy Park, St Philip, which will run behind closed doors to settle the 2021 Champion Driver title chase. Campaigning a Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo, Maloney is two points behind Chris Hoad, who has a maximum score of 45 points from three Clubman 2 class victories in his Rookie season in the Championship driving a BimmaCup.
Maloney leads a six-strong entry in the FIA R5 class, seeded directly behind him in the order Roger Hill (Fabia R5), Andrew Mallalieu (Ford Fiesta R5), Mark Maloney – he drives his brother Stuart’s earlier Fabia R5, which has been fully upgraded - then the Fiesta R5s of Suleman Esuf and Turks & Caicos Rally Team representative Paul Horton.
Hoad also has a fully-subscribed class to contend with, led by last year’s class Champion Jason Downey (BimmaCup), so neither he nor Maloney will suffer by scoring reduced points during the last stage of their fight for supremacy. Neither Josh Read (Starlet) nor Adam Mallalieu (Fiesta R5), who are tied in third place, are entered, while fifth-placed Neil Corbin will no longer have a shot at the title, as he is changing classes. He will still have a chance of winning the 2wd Championship, however, where the absent Read leads the standings from reigning 2wd and SM2 Champion Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII), who is also missing tomorrow’s action.
Reigning Champion Corbin, who also won the title in 2012, steering a Toyota Starlet on both occasions, will debut his new Toyota GT86 CS-R3, a model developed and homologated by Toyota Motorsport, which moves him from SuperModified 1 in to Modified 2, where he will face Jamal Braithwaite’s Honda Civic Type-R. Corbin says: “I made the decision mainly due to safety and also to give the Starlet a rest after 18 years. The new set-up feels good, but I may take some time to get a handle on the additional weight, and the fact that it’s left-hand drive. I look forward to being in the same class as Jamal again, as he knows how to ‘pedal’ and I have been racing against him since his Colt days, albeit in a different class.”
Dane Skeete (Subaru Impreza WRC S12) leads the 4wd standings by two points from Jamaica’s Jeff Panton (Ford Fiesta WRC), neither of whom are entered, which puts Maloney in a strong position for move up from third; currently, he is 12 points ahead ahead of Roger Hill and Andrew Mallalieu, tied in fifth place.
With strict Covid-19 protocols in place and only essential personnel permitted entry, scrutineering is scheduled for 11.00am in the Pits, which is the Service Park for the day. In a change to the original regulations, there will now be a drive-through ahead of each run to allow drivers to familiarize themselves with the layout, as co-drivers and passengers are not permitted.
The first part of the Double-Header, round four of the BRC Championship, is scheduled to start at noon; there will be four runs, without a practice, and the fastest time will count. Cars will leave through the Pit entrance, initially heading east before doubling back on to an intricate course including stretches of the International Circuit, kart link roads and the Rallycross Bridge, before running through the Quarry and on to the service road to the north, returning to the circuit via the Tunnel to finish heading the wrong way into the Pit Lane. For the final round of the Championship, the course, which is around three kilometres, will run in the reverse direction.
BRC Double-Header Sprint - Saturday, November 20
Final running order at November 19:
1 Stuart Maloney (FIA R5 Rock Hard Cement/Bushy Park Barbados/VP Fuels/Chevron/Maloney Racing Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo)
2 Roger Hill (FIA R5 Esso/MaxMeyer Paints/MotorMac Skoda Fabia R5)
3 Andrew Mallalieu (FIA R5 Terra Caribbean Ford Fiesta R5)
4 Mark Maloney (FIA R5 Rock Hard Cement/Bushy Park Barbados/VP Fuels/Chevron/Maloney Racing Skoda Fabia R5)
5 Suleman Esuf (FIA R5 SY Adam & Son/Prosales/Express Imports Ford Fiesta R5)
6 Paul Horton - TCI (FIA R5 Java Island/Sky Motorsports/HO2 Construction Ford Fiesta R5)
7 Adrian Linton (SM2 Ravensden/Helping Hands Foundation/JAD Performance Vauxhall Astra VXR)
8 Neil Corbin (M2 Nassco/H Jason Jones/Auto Solutions/Emtage Electric Toyota GT86)
9 Jamal Brathwaite (M2 Valvoline/Caribbean Auto Glass/Consumers Guarantee Insurance/Stylez Auto Spa/TEC Barbados Honda Civic Type-R)
10 Geoffrey Noel (M1 Toyota Corolla)
11 Chris Hoad (C2 Subway/Dasani Water/Guava Tech BimmaCup)
12 Jason Downey (C2 BimmaCup)
14 Michael Worme (C2 BimmaCup)
15 Sacha Soodeen (C2 BimmaCup)
16 Harold Morley - ENG (H2 Porsche 911)
17 Jason Tull (C1 Jay-T’s Auto Services/Dominus PHD/Redline Performance Imports/SRG Engineering Peugeot 106 Rallye S2)
For media information only. No regulatory value.
For further media information, robin@bradfax.com [2]
Web site: www.barbadosrallyclub.com [3]
