[1]BMF gets the green light for closed-road rallying
Following a string of front-running performances in UK events over the past two months, culminating in fourth place in last Sunday’s (March 13) Donington Rally, Andy Scott has confirmed his participation in Sol Rally Barbados 2022. As the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) marks its 65th Anniversary, Sol RB22 is scheduled for the weekend of June 4 & 5, with King of the Hill on the previous Sunday (May 29).
While the Scotsman is currently looking for a co-driver – he finished third in Sol RB19 with Laura Connell, but she is unable to make the trip this year – he has entered the WRC class in his Rock Oil, Rostrum Sportswear and Billfisher III Ford Fiesta S2000T, the first time the car will visit the island. Their podium finish, and victory in the FIA R5 class, came in the Ford Fiesta R5 which is now campaigned in Barbados by Suleman Esuf.
Prior to Sunday’s result, Scott had finished fifth in this year’s Brands Hatch Winter Stages (January 15), then enjoyed a hugely successful weekend in February, when he finished third in the Snetterton Stages in the eastern county of Norfolk on the Saturday, then travelled 425 miles to Scotland overnight to finish seventh in the Knockhill Stages in Fife the following day.
This will be the fourth visit to Barbados for former British and European Rallycross Championship front-runner Scott, who was enticed to compete in the island by Kevin Procter, one of the first friends he made in rallycross and who drives a similar two-litre Mountune-engined Fiesta. Despite an overall dnf on his first visit in 2017 in a Ford Escort MkI and a badly-sprained ankle after falling from a dirt bike, Scott enjoyed the atmosphere so much that he bought the R5 and drove the car in anger for the first time in the 2018 Carter’s Pit Stop Stages, finishing ninth, then was 11th in Sol RB18.
Sharing his 65th birthday this year with the Rally Club’s 65th Anniversary, Scott is looking forward to his return: “I have missed the event, the island, the whole Bajan rally community, along with our friends in Barbados. I can’t wait to get back and enjoy the event that was responsible for me finding a new path in motor sport. Just like Kevin Procter introduced me to the event, I have been working hard to introduce another front running rallycross competitor, Ollie O’Donovan, to Rally Barbados. But due to a date clash Ollie is disappointed that he can’t make it this year.”
Scott was the 2009 Fuchs Lubricants Rallycross Open Champion, also twice British Rallycross Vice-Champion, in 2011 and 2015, losing the second title in the final round, having run neck-and-neck with eventual Champion Julian Godfrey all season. His European Championship results include a podium in Holland, while he has also won the stand-alone Rallycross de Lohéac in France, the MSA British Rallycross Grand Prix and British Championship events at Croft and Knockhill. While Scott is no longer competing in rallycross championships, he is overseeing the budding career of his grandson Finley.
BMF gets the green light for closed-road rallying
Motor sport will return to the roads of Barbados at the end of March for the first time since the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Winter Rally of December 2020. The Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF) has confirmed that the 15-month hiatus will end following permission from the Covid-19 Monitoring Unit (CMU) for road rallying to restart and subsequent discussions with the Ministry of Transport, Works & Maintenance, which is now accepting applications for road closures once again.
BMF Vice-President David Williams said: “Throughout the pandemic, we have worked closely with the CMU at the Ministry of Health and Wellness to run events behind closed doors under their guidance and protocols to allow as many motor sport participants as possible the chance to enjoy some competition. Since December 2020, however, we have not been able to stage events in front of spectators, even inside the island’s two enclosed venues, Bushy Park and the Vaucluse Raceway . . . and spectators are the life blood of all sports, not just ours. Although we will still be required to work within certain Covid 19 protocols, confirmation that we can return to closed roads is a huge bonus and the BMF speaks on behalf of the whole motor sport fraternity, competitors and spectators alike, to welcome this announcement.”
The first event to benefit will be the Motoring Club Barbados Inc (MCBI) Spring Blaze '22 Double Header on Sunday, March 27, while the BRC will stage its first closed-road event on April 24, which will also benefit from the CMU’s permission, which has been welcomed by the Club. Rally Club PRO Neil Barnard said: “It’s been a long road back and we are very grateful to the BMF for their hard work and to the authorities that have given us the green light to resume rallying. We have been working on plans for Sol Rally Barbados for a couple of months and will continue to ensure that health and safety is at the core of our planning.”
Sol Rally Barbados and King of the Hill are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrates its 65th Anniversary in 2022; Sol RB22 marks the 15th year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.
For media information only. No regulatory value.
For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com [3]
web sites: www.rallybarbados.net [4]; www.barbadosrallyclub.com [5]
