Following his victory on last month’s BCIC Rally Barbados, Stuart Maloney leads the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Champion Driver title chase after five out of eight rounds. More than 70 drivers have scored points as the 2024 BRC Driver’s & Class Championships passed the half-way point and some close battles are brewing, with eight class-leaders and five former Champion Drivers currently in the overall top 10.
Maloney (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) leads the FIA R5 class with 88 points, beaten only once this year, in the opening round by his brother Mark (Fabia Rally2 evo); while Neil Corbin is unbeaten in Modified 2 in his Toyota GT86 CS-R3, his class was not fully subscribed in the first two rounds, so reduced points were awarded. He trails by three points, lying joint second overall with Clubman 2 class leader Chris Hoad (BimmaCup), whose run of class wins ended when he finished third behind Ryan Wood and Allan Kinch on the Sunday of BCIC RB24.
Despite missing the opening round, Kyle Gill (Mitsubishi Mirage RS Clone) lies fourth overall, with four straight Clubman 1 victories giving him 75 points, adding another class leader into the overall mix, while Jamaica’s Jeffrey Panton (Fabia Rally2 evo) is fifth on 68, second to Maloney in the FIA R5 class and the 4wd Championship.
Joint sixth, another point behind, are Mark Maloney and the sole entry in Historic 2, Harold Morley (Porsche 911 RS), with Edward Corbin eighth after a mixed start to the season in his SuperModified 1 (SM1) Daihatsu Charmant on 66. Completing the top 10, tied on 65, are the leaders of Modified 4 (M4) and SM2, Kurt Thompson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) – this his first season of 4wd competition – and Rhett Watson (BMW M3), who also leads the 2wd Championship.
Champion Driver in 2021, Stuart Maloney is one of five former winners of the sought-after title currently in the top 10, each hoping to add to his cv, all the others being two-time Champions: Edward Corbin (2019 & ’22), Neil Corbin (2012 & ‘20), Jamaica’s Jeff Panton (2017 & ’18) and Rhett Watson (2014 & ’15). The title is decided on points scored against your peers in 13 classes based on engine capacity and level of modification with the points earned reduced if there are fewer than three starters.
While some class leaders have a comfortable cushion of points heading into the second half of the season, three lead by only narrow margins: in Group B, Chadane Holder (Toyota Starlet) leads Shareef Walcott (Toyota Corolla) by only a single point, with Mark Huggins (Daihatsu Charmant) only a further seven behind; Watson leads Barry Mayers (Ford Fiesta) by two points in SM2 and the 2wd Championship, while the same margin separates Stuart Garcia and Jonathan Still in the battle of the BMW M3s in class M3.
With island rallying currently in rude health, the championship is set to be hard-fought over the remaining three rounds, a Double-Header Sprint on August 25 and the Winter Rally on November 17. With the now-traditional enhanced scoring system applied to the season finale, there is still a total of 58 points on the table, so there remains huge scope for a shift in fortunes in the standings.
BRC Driver’s Championship
Positions after round 5:
1st Stuart Maloney (FIA R5 Rock Hard Cement/M-Jet/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), 88 points
equal 2nd Neil Corbin (M2 Nassco Limited/Stamina Energy/Colour XL/Auto Solutions/Pressout Performance/Bajan Vending Toyota GT86 CS-R3) & Chris Hoad (C2 Subway/Dasani Water/Color XL/Shell Lubricants/Guava Tech BimmaCup), 85pts
4th Kyle Gill (C1 Adhoc Industries/Chicken Stop Barbados Mitsubishi Mirage RS Clone), 75pts
5th Jeffrey Panton – JAM (FIA R5 KIG/Sandals Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), 68pts
equal 6th Mark Maloney (FIA R5 Rock Hard Cement/M-Jet/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) & Harold Morley (H2 Spectrum Antimicrobials Inc Porsche 911RS), 67pts
8th Edward Corbin (SM1 Automotive Art/Pro-Sales/Hilti/Bearded Hogs BBQ Daihatsu Charmant), 66pts
equal 9th Kurt Thompson (M4 Glassesco Hardware/Automotive Art/Valvoline/NKM Clothing/Bio-Beauty Day Spa/Realtors Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) & Rhett Watson (SM2 Chefette/Frosteez/Finlandia Vodka/Stihl/Gliptone/Bajan Pure Water/Motul Oils/Hankook BMW M3), 65pts
etc
BRC Class Championship
WRC: 1st Dane Skeete (Automotive Art/CO Williams Sand & Lime/Sol Subaru Impreza WRC S12), 26pts
FIA R5: 1st S Maloney, 88pts; 2nd Panton – JAM, 68pts; 3rd Mark Maloney (Rock Hard Cement/M-Jet/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), 67pts; etc
Modified 4: 1st K Thompson, 65pts; 2nd Kyle Catwell (Valvoline Oils/KFC/Automotive Art/Blue Waters/Stag/Ellesmere Quarries Ltd/BCR Car Rental/Thomas Tours/Chicken Pen Racing Audi TT-R), 37pts; 3rd Avinash Chatrani (iShop Barbados/Axe Solutions Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 17pts; etc
SuperModified 2: 1st R Watson, 65pts; 2nd Barry Mayers (Chefette/Frosteez/Kooyman/Hankook/Packaging Center/Sign Depot Ford Fiesta), 63pts; 3rd Andrew Jones (Gale’s Agro Products/Go On Energy Bars/Weetabix/Tunnock’s/Southern Surf Beach Apartments/Hankook Tyres Ford Escort MkII), 49pts; etc
SM1: 1st E Corbin, 66pts; 2nd Tremaine Forde-Catwell (Mipa Auto Color/Cheese Autoglass Finish Inc/Ingenuity Pro Shop/Rude Boy Daihatsu Charmant), 49pts; 3rd Winston Thompson (Ellesmere Quarries Ltd/BCR Car Rentals Inc/Chicken Pen Racing/SDRR Toyota Starlet), 34pts; etc
Modified 3: 1st Stuart Garcia (Time Out Car/Kirba Inc/Four & Twenty Bakery/Guava Tech/Forin BMW Compact), 63pts; 2nd Jonathan Still (Suga Apple Swim/InoGro-Hydroponics/Weddings by Melissa/New York Pizza/Bajan Pure Water/Young Island BMW M3), 61pts; 3rd Suleman Esuf (Express Motors/S Y Adam & Son/Fuzion Boutique/Prosales/Y Esuf Auto Clinic BMW M3), 52pts; etc
Modified 2: 1st N Corbin, 85pts; 2nd Sean Corbin (Super-S Premium Lubricants/Carters Pitstop/Kikks Slippas/Westlake Tires/First Step Security/Guava Tech/Gunk/Fabblast Barbados/M&M Tuning BMW 318ti Compact), 62pts; 3rd Pierre Clarke (SDRR Hydraulics/Performance Plus/Camp’s Auto Service/ACS Maintenance Honda Civic), 41pts; etc
Historic 2: 1st Morley, 67pts
Clubman 3: 1st Karl Bovell (KB Equipment Rentals BMW 325), 52pts; 2nd Kevin Armstrong (Armstrong Auto BMW), 17pts
C2: 1st Hoad, 85pts; 2nd Russell Smith – ENG (Impredicativity LLC/Kirba Inc/Guava Tech BimmaCup), 61pts; 3rd Allan Kinch (Savvy on the Bay/Tranquility Cruises/Yorkshire Agricultural Services BimmaCup), 54pts; etc
C1: 1st Gill, 75pts; 2nd Wayne Tasker (Signiaglobe Financial Group/Claytons Kola Kick Energy Drink/Klean-az/Shalom Solutions/DT Construction Opel Corsa B), 47pts; 3rd Jason Tull/Omar Archer (Jay-T’s Auto/Redline Performance Imports/Banks Peugeot 106 Rallye S2), 11pts
GpB: 1st Chadane Holder (Carnique Transport Inc/Seven Creative Media/City of Bridgetown Credit Union Toyota Starlet), 55pts; 2nd Shareef Walcott (Melwani’s/Lil Griff Hardware & Building Supplies Toyota Corolla), 54pts; 3rd Mark Huggins (General Distributors/Fun In The Sun Daihatsu Charmant), 47pts
BRC 4wd Championship: 1st S Maloney, 86pts; 2nd Panton – JAM, 65pts; 3rd M Maloney, 64pts; 4th Josh Read (FIA R5 Automotive Art/Weetabix Ford Fiesta R5), 57pts; 5th Kyle Gregg – JAM (York Investments/B D Gregg Ford Fiesta Rally2), 52pts; etc
BRC 2wd Championship: 1st R Watson, 65pts; 2nd B Mayers, 63pts; 3rd N Corbin, 53pts; 4th Jones, 49pts; 5th Roger Mayers (Chefette/Frosteez/Kooyman/Hankook/Packaging Center/Sign Depot Toyota WR Starlet), 35pts; etc
