Stuart Maloney drew closer to a second Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Champion Driver title on Sunday (August 25), winning both directions of the BRC Summer Sprint. His closest rival before the weekend Chris Hoad, who lost the title to Maloney after tie-break rules were invoked in 2021, shared the Clubman 2 class wins with Allan Kinch, so drifted a couple of points further behind.
Despite three late no-shows, 38 cars started, a healthy number for this time in the year, with Britain’s Rob Swann the only overseas driver entered. A challenging day for competitors and organisers started with areas of standing water along the five-kilometre course between Kendal in St John and Ellesmere in St George when the event started shortly after 11.00am; then runs two and three in the reverse direction had to be cancelled when the heavens opened again, making conditions unsafe.
Driving the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 in which he won BCIC RB24, Maloney was one of six in the FIA R5 class, with Dane Skeete the lone WRC entry in his Subaru Impreza S12. Maloney set the pace on the first run with a time of 2m 44.49s, around 2.5 secs quicker than his brother Mark (Fabia Rally2 evo), with Skeete third, another seven-tenths adrift. Swann, Roger Hill and Logan Watson completed the top six in a trio of Skodas, with Andrew Mallalieu (Ford Fiesta R5) less than a tenth behind Watson.
An improvement of 1.3s kept Maloney ahead after the second run, but Skeete was now second, having bettered his time by more than 4secs; Swann had moved to within a second of Mark Maloney, while Watson moved ahead of Hill. Maloney found another second on run three and Skeete also looked set improve before he struck the wall at Ellesmere a few hundred metres short of the finish line, which ended his day.
Everyone improved on the last run, the Maloneys separated by just under nine-tenths, with Watson beating Skeete’s best time to finish third – he had found more than 8secs between his first and last runs – with Swann and Hill completing the top six.
Stuart Maloney again set the best time on the first run in reverse, beating his brother by just over 1sec, with Swann, Hill, Watson and Mallalieu completing the top six. After the rains came and cancelled runs two and three, only 17 cars ventured out for the fourth run, none improving on their times.
Maloney said: “I came today to have fun. I’m not chasing championships but when I do events I want to do well and today was no different. I didn’t just want to be fastest R5 but fastest on the road. Unfortunately, Dane had the issue and that was it. I put in a banker for the afternoon direction and that was enough to do the job as the rains came down.”
Rhett Watson (BMW M3) had a good day at the office. Top 2wd seed in the absence of the Mayers brothers, Roger (Toyota Starlet) and Barry (Fiesta), he was quickest on every run, finishing eighth overall in each direction, with Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII) and Calvin Briggs finishing second and third in SuperModified 2. He said: “The day went as planned. I was dialing in some new suspension parts as we’ve been doing upgrades each event. The car is handling better than ever, I’ve never felt it this way.”
Modified 4 winner Kurt Thompson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) finished ninth overall in the first direction, the class reduced to only one after his brother Mark’s similar car had a drivetrain failure on the start line, then Kyle Catwell completed only one run in his Audi TT-R. In the reverse, Catwell rejoined to finish seventh overall and beat Thompson, who said: “Each time I drive the car I am learning more, really enjoying it. The technical part of Ellesmere was really nice, mixed in with the high speed of Kendal.”
Jonathan Still (BMW M3) looked set to win M3 in the first direction, until Suleman Esuf (BMW 1M) improved by nearly 10secs on the final run, then doubled up in the reverse. Tremaine Forde-Catwell (Daihatsu Charade) claimed two SM1 victories, which he described as “way better than I was expecting”, while Group B was won in both directions by a delighted Chadane Holder (Starlet), who said: “I’m grateful to achieve results like these proving that hard work does pay off. It shows an upward trajectory of the car development and to be in sync with the car is an awesome feeling.”
Honours were shared in M2, Pierre Clarke (Honda Civic) first beating Sean Corbin (BMW 318ti Compact) by 1.47secs, before Corbin returned the complement in the reverse, by 0.36s, the narrowest margin of victory for the day. While Jason Tull (Peugeot 106 Rallye S2) easily claimed Clubman 1 in both directions, the BimmaCup battle in C2 was a different story, Chris Hoad winning the first, but Allan Kinch the second, claiming his first class win of the season.
BRC Summer Sprint – Sunday, August 25
2024 BRC Driver’s & Class Championships, round 6
Provisional results – overall:
1st Stuart Maloney (FIA R5 Rock Hard Cement/M-Jet/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), 2m 40.54s
2nd Mark Maloney (FIA R5 Imagine/M-Jet/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 00.87s
3rd Logan Watson (FIA R5 Cargo BGI/Packaging Centre Ltd/Pressure On/Shell Lubricants/Jack Daniels/Bajan Pure Water/Luxe Caribbean Properties Inc/Boot Camp Central/Hankook/Stihl/C3 Communications/Colour XL Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 02.46s
4th Dane Skeete (WRC Automotive Art/CO Williams Sand & Lime/Sol Subaru Impreza WRC S12), + 02.71s
5th Rob Swann – ENG (FIA R5 Cygnet Plant Ltd Export and Sales/GO Rent A Car/R A Swann Ltd Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 03.43s
6th Roger Hill (FIA R5 Mobil 1/Motormac/Max Mayer/PPG Paints Skoda Fabia R5), + 04.14s
7th Andrew Mallalieu (FIA R5 Terra Caribbean Ford Fiesta R5), + 07.19s
8th Rhett Watson (SM2 Chefette/Frosteez/Finlandia Vodka/Stihl/Gliptone/Bajan Pure Water/Motul Oils/Hankook BMW M3), + 07.91s
9th Kurt Thompson (M4 Glassesco Hardware/Automotive Art/Valvoline/NKM Clothing/Bio-Beauty Day Spa/Realtors Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), + 10.65s
10th Andrew Jones (SM2 Southern Surf Beach Apartments/Gale’s Agro Products/Go On Energy Bars/Weetabix/Tunnock’s Ford Escort MkII), + 11.93s
etc
