Adam Mallalieu, at 20 the youngest driver registered to score points in the Barbados Rally2 Championship sponsored by CIBC Caribbean and Ace H & B Hardware, was the star of Day 1 of BCIC Rally Barbados 2024. With his Ford Fiesta R5 repaired after the damage sustained five days before at First Citizens King of the Hill, the former Caribbean Junior Karting Champion was fastest on six of the nine stages on Friday night and Saturday, becoming the third driver to win a round this year.

Mallalieu was quick out of the box, fastest of the Championship contenders on the first floodlit 2.6-kilometre Bushy Park stage and fourth overall in the FIA R5 class behind the Skoda Fabias of Mark Maloney, Jeffrey Panton and Stuart Maloney, all drivers with years of competition experience dating back before he was born. He was 1.4secs ahead of Championship leader Josh Read (Fiesta R5), in turn just three-tenths ahead of first-round winner Kyle Gregg of Jamaica, whose Fiesta Rally2 was also severely damaged at KotH, with the final components needed for the rebuild touching down at the nearby Grantley Adams International Airport only four hours before the start.

Between two runs of Bushy Park, the field headed out into St John and the popular Featherbed Lane stage (5.9km), where Britain’s Rob Swann (Fabia Rally2 evo) was fastest, ahead of Gregg and Read. Back under the floodlights, Mallalieu went one better, fastest overall (the first of his three outright stage wins), ahead of Read, Gregg, championship newcomer this year Logan Watson (Fabia Rally2 evo), his father Andrew Mallalieu (Fiesta R5) and Swann. Cumulative times suggested a close battle for points, with just 4secs spread across the top five ahead of Saturday’s stages, Gregg leading Read, Mallalieu, Swann and Watson.

Saturday’s schedule offered three high-speed loops of Malvern (6.30km), Automotive Art Kendal (7.80km) and Banks Padmore (5.80km) in the island’s south-east corner. Heavy overnight rain and random showers made tyre choice both critical and near-impossible, while Mallalieu faced the additional challenge of little experience of the stages compared with the others, as studying abroad has limited his seat time at home. Even so, he briefly edged into the lead after the first Malvern, before Swann took charge, a hat-trick of stages wins building his cushion to more than 8secs as the rest of the top six shuffled places like a pack of cards.

It all unravelled on the last Padmore before lunch, however, where Swann was among many caught out by a huge downpour after only the first few cars had completed the stage. The Brit plummeted to eighth and last of the Championship runners, as the Citroen C3 Rally2 of Paul Horton of the Turks & Caicos Rally Team was also a victim of the weather, while Mallalieu regained the lead ahead of Gregg, Watson, Read, Mallalieu Snr and Roger Hill (Fabia R5).

As far as the leader board was concerned, there was no change in the final loop of the day, other than the gaps steadily increasing: after two more stage wins, Mallalieu won round four by 20secs from Gregg, who was fastest on the day’s final Kendal, with Watson another 10secs behind in third. With BCIC RB24 divided into two Rally2 Championship rounds, Gregg had closed to within one point of Read after losing the lead at KotH, while Watson had moved up to fourth, just two points behind Swann. As Scarlett O’Hara said, however, “tomorrow is another day.”

Barbados Rally2 Championship

Round 4 – BCIC Rally Barbados, days 1 & 2 (Barbados Rally Club)

St Philip & St John – May 31/June 1

Results

1st Adam Mallalieu/Steve McNulty – ENG (Ford Fiesta R5), 39m 12.73s

2nd Kyle Gregg – JAM/Orry Hunte (Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 20.37s

3rd Logan Watson/Kreigg Yearwood (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 31.30s

4th Josh Read/Mark Jordan (Ford Fiesta R5), + 41.34s

5th Andrew Mallalieu/Geoff Goddard (Ford Fiesta R5), + 01:06.59s

6th Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (Skoda Fabia R5), + 01:10.21s

7th George Sherman – USA/Scott Pinheiro – T&T (Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 04:03.56s

8th Rob Swann – ENG/Tom Woodburn – ENG (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 04:51.75s

9th Paul Horton – TCI/Matt Edwards – WAL (Citroen C3 Rally2), + tbc

Championship points after round 4

1st Read, 65 points; 2nd Gregg – JAM, 64pts; 3rd Swann, 52pts; 4th Watson, 50pts; 5th Hill, 47pts; 6th Andrew Mallalieu, 38pts; 7th Adam Mallalieu, 31pts; 8th Horton – TCI, 28pts; 9th Sherman – USA, 24pts