[1]Title sponsors “remain committed” to Rally Club’s premier event
The Barbados Rally Club (BRC) has reluctantly decided to postpone Sol Rally Barbados 2021, which was scheduled for the weekend of September 25/26, and King of the Hill, which would have run on the Sunday before. A statement from the Committee of Management said: “We have not taken this decision lightly and have done so with health and safety uppermost in our minds, but fully understand the significant impact it will have on competitors, spectators, our loyal overseas visitors and our valued partners.”
The Sol Group, title sponsors of the Club’s premier event since 2008, have supported the decision. Roger Barrow, General Manager, Sol Barbados Ltd, said: "We remain committed to supporting the Sol Rally Barbados 2021 event, now postponed to 2022.” Next year’s scheduled dates are Sunday, May 29 for KotH and the weekend of June 4/5 for Sol RB22, with on-line entries opening on Friday, October 1, 2021, on the event web site, rallybarbados.net.
After the success of last year’s event, when the rainy season added additional challenges to those presented by the coronavirus pandemic, the Club had been stepping up preparations for Sol RB21 over recent weeks, with route-setting under way and other strategic plans already in place.
The Club’s statement explained the thinking behind this week’s decision: “The Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact daily life and sporting activity around the world. With 10 weeks to go before the scheduled dates for Sol RB21 and King of the Hill over the last two weekends of September, the Government extended its ban on spectators attending sporting events, based on current protocols designed to keep our population safe. After an exhaustive look at the possibility of holding closed road events in a non-spectator environment, we have concluded that it is unworkable, as both Sol Rally Barbados and King of the Hill traditionally attract significant crowds.”
Rally Club PRO Neil Barnard said: “The decision is massively disappointing for the organising team, who have worked extremely hard trying to overcome a number of obstacles to make this year’s 32nd running of our blue riband event a reality. Much of the work already completed can be carried over to next year, though, so we remain positive.”
In the coming weeks, the Committee of Management will be considering the possible use of the September dates for rounds of the Club’s Driver’s & Class Championships, run in whatever format can be accommodated within the Government protocols in force at the time.
Barnard concluded: “We wish to thank competitors at home and from overseas who have participated in Sol Rally Barbados and contributed to its remarkable success and look forward to 2022 and to everyone’s continued support of the event and of our island.”
Sol Rally Barbados is a tarmac rally, with around 20 special stages run on the island’s intricate network of public roads; the results of King of the Hill - four timed runs on a roughly four-kilometre stage – are used to seed the running order for the main event. Both events are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which will celebrate its 65th Anniversary in 2022; Sol RB21 marks the 14th year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group.
For media information only. No regulatory value.
For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com [2]
web sites: www.rallybarbados.net [3]; www.barbadosrallyclub.com [4]
