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After the four-month winter break, island fans are ready for this weekend’s start to the new season, looking for early signs of form ahead of BCIC Rally Barbados 2025. As drivers fly in from Britain, the United States and around the region for two double-header speed events, the dominant FIA R5 class will see some changes, notably America’s George Sherman revealed as the new owner of the Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo formerly driven by Zane Maloney and Logan Watson.
After testing at Bushy Park mid-week, Sherman will debut his Fabia this weekend, with the entry also including Jamaica’s Tarik Minott in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 which was due at the Bridgetown Port this week. He will be competing in the island for the first time since the late 2000s when he drove the ex-Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis.
Both have rallied in the UK this year, Sherman finishing ninth and Minott 10th in the Snetterton Stages last month, where BCIC RB24 winner Stuart Maloney (Fabia RS Rally2) finished fifth, an impressive result for the three transatlantic crews. Sherman was driving the Fiesta Rally2 he campaigned in Barbados in 2024 and which he has also entered for next month’s Manx Rally (April 11/12).
Minott’s fellow-countrymen Kyle Gregg and Jeff Panton, Britain’s Rob Swann and Paul Horton of the Turks & Caicos Rally Team will also start preparations for BCIC RB25 in the FIA R5 class, along with Maloney, his brother Mark (Fabia Rally2 evo) and two-time winner of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event Dane Skeete in his Subaru Impreza WRC S12.
On Saturday (2.00pm), the Vaucluse Raceway Motorsports Club (VRMSC) will be the first to use Hangman’s Hill in St Thomas since it was resurfaced, with five-kilometre stage running through VRW to Lion Castle with three runs in each direction. Organised by the Motoring Club Barbados Inc (MCBI), Sunday’s Spring Blaze (10.00am) is shared for championship points with the BRC; another 5km stage will run four times each way between Kendal Woods and Cherry Grove in St John.
BCIC RB25, the Caribbean’s biggest motor sport international, will run from Friday, May 30 to Sunday, June 1. The Auto & Rally Show, where every car entered is on display in an annual celebration of island rallying, and the final shakedown and seeding event, First Citizens King of the Hill, fill the previous weekend (May 24/25).
The five additional overseas Rally2 entries bring the total confirmed for BCIC RB25 to 13, with others still in the pipeline four weeks ahead of the entry payment deadline. A close contest is predicted: Panton’s second place last year in his Fabia Rally2 evo was his sixth top three finish, added to his five wins since 1998, while Gregg (Fiesta Rally2) finished third last year. Swann (Fabia Rally2 evo) has finished second four times among 11 top 10 finishes, while Horton finished 10th on the debut of his Citroen C3 Rally2 two years ago.
The weekend’s two events should also offer some useful pointers for fans of the 2wd battles which so often provide a thrilling counterpoint to the fight for outright victory. Headed by reigning BRC 2wd Champion Rhett Watson (BMW M3), Sunday’s SuperModified 2 entry also includes Barry Mayers (Fiesta), Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII) and Calvin Briggs and marks the return to competition of Nigel Reece, now equipped with the Toyota Starlet in which Josh Read won many accolades.
Other former Rally Barbados class-winners hitting the ground running for the new season include Jonathan Still (M3 BMW M3), former BRC Champion Drivers Edward Corbin (SM1 Daihatsu Charmant) and Neil Corbin (M2 Toyota GT-86 CS-R3), plus two-time title runner-up Chris Hoad (C2 BimmaCup).
Rally Barbados is a tarmac rally, with around 20 special stages run on the island’s intricate network of public roads, under road closure orders granted by the Ministry of Transport & Works; the previous Sunday’s King of the Hill ‘shakedown’, run under a similar arrangement, features four timed runs on a roughly four-kilometre stage, the results of which are used to seed the running order for the main event.
For media information only. No regulatory value.
For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com [3]
www.rallybarbados.net [4]; www.barbadosrallyclub.com [5]
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