With co-driver Kristian Yearwood in his Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo, re-shelled since last year and still not in full livery, Stuart Maloney won the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Shakedown Stages, the first points-scoring round of this year’s Championship. With a weather system covering the island and a flood warning in place, torrential rain and high wins created treacherous conditions, with grip at a premium even for 4wds.
Josh Read was the day’s first casualty, on SS1, 3.90 kilometres from Lamberts to Pickerings; his Ford Fiesta R5 ploughed off the road but Read and co-driver Mark Jordan were uninjured. Britain’s Rob Swann, who has switched from Fiesta to Skoda Fabia R5 during the winter, was fastest on the first two stages, but he struck a power pole after the flying finish of SS2 (Mt Brevitor to Sailor Gully – 3.20km), with a front-right puncture which meant he couldn’t turn. He and co-driver Darren Garrod survived the impact better than the car, but the incident resulted in most of the field being given notional times. The second run through that stage was also cancelled and then it was shortened for the two afternoon passes to facilitate repair works.
Second to Swann, Maloney now took control, leading at lunch by 5.3secs, helped by a terrific scrap behind him, the remaining six R5s covered by roughly the same 5secs. Closest of these was Jamaica’s Kyle Gregg, who was settling well in his new Fiesta Rally2, with Roger Hill (Fabia R5) and Gregg’s fellow-countryman Jeff Panton, now with a Fabia Rally2 evo, within 2secs.
As Maloney edged further ahead over the afternoon’s five stages to beat Hill by 15.6secs, a switch to slicks for the final stage enabled Panton to overhaul Gregg for third; but it was nevertheless an impressive debut for Gregg with a new car in his first tarmac rally for seven years, co-driven by Orry Hunte. Mark Maloney (Fabia Rally2 evo) finished fifth, up from seventh at lunch helped by two top three times in the afternoon stages, while the Turks & Caicos Rally Team’s Paul Horton, enjoying his first outing on the island in his Citroen C3 Rally2 was sixth, and Andrew Mallalieu (Fiesta R5) seventh.
Round 3 – Shakedown Stages (Barbados Rally Club)
St Peter & St Lucy – April 23
Results
1st Stuart Maloney/Kristian Yearwood (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), 18m 18.84s
2nd Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (Skoda Fabia R5), + 15.62
3rd Jeffrey Panton – JAM/Michael Fennell Jnr – JAM (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 17.14
4th Kyle Gregg – JAM/Orry Hunte (Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 17.80
5th Mark Maloney/Justin Maloney (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 24.58
6th Paul Horton – TCI/Michael Worme (Citroen C3 Rally2), + 36.07
7th Andrew Mallalieu/Geoff Goddard (Ford Fiesta R5), + 42.95
DNF Josh Read/Mark Jordan (Ford Fiesta R5)
DNF Rob Swann – ENG/Darren Garrod – WAL (Skoda Fabia R5)
Championship points *
After round 3
1st Stuart Maloney 20
2nd Roger Hill 17
3rd Jeff Panton 15
4th Kyle Gregg 13
5th Mark Maloney 11
6th Paul Horton 9
7th Andrew Mallalieu 7
* rounds 1 & 2 were non-scoring exhibition events