Volunteer marshals and officials working on next month’s Cartell.ie Killarney Rally of the Lakes will have the chance to win a trip to Sol Rally Barbados 2013 (June 1/2), courtesy of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC), organisers of the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International.

The prize-winner whose name is ‘pulled from the hat’ will enjoy an all-expenses-paid return trip across the Atlantic in the latest of a series of promotions organised in association with the Caribbean island’s private-sector Tourism Development Corporation (TDC) and Pacenotes Rally Magazine.

Neil Barnard, the BRC’s PRO, explains: “Over the past three years, with the valuable support of the TDC, the Club has offered prize trips to competitors, spectators and marshals…and it is those volunteers without whom motor sport simply could not survive that we are concentrating on again this year.

“These competitions have been at the core of our European promotion of Sol Rally Barbados, which has resulted in a significant growth in first-time competitor numbers, particularly from Ireland. Of the 20 new crews entered last year and already confirmed for Sol RB13, 14 have come from Ireland.”

Run over the May Day weekend (May 3-5), the Rally of the Lakes is a round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, the Southern 4 Rally Championship and for the first time in Ireland, the FIA European Historic Rally Championship.

After a Friday evening Ceremonial Start in Killarney Town Centre, there will be two days of rallying, with approximately 150 stage miles.

Clerk of the Course Dermot Healy said: “We hear more and more about Sol Rally Barbados, as the Irish contingent seems to grow every year. On behalf of all our volunteers, I’d like to thank the Barbados Rally Club for this terrific opportunity. I know that whoever wins it will fully deserve the prize.”

All signed-on volunteers and marshals over the age of 17 will be eligible for the draw, to be made after the event. The prize includes return flights on Virgin Atlantic from London Gatwick, accommodation for 12 nights and rental car for the duration.

If you would like to marshal at this year’s event, register your interest with Chief Marshal Darren McCormack, who can be contacted on +353 (0)85 1455 856.

Scotiabank is the new sole title sponsor of King of the Hill, the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) final key event run in association with Sol Rally Barbados 2013, the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International. The deal was confirmed during a press briefing this morning (Friday, April 19) at the CGI Building in Warrens, St Michael.

Scheduled for Sunday, May 26, the weekend before Sol RB13, Scotiabank King of the Hill plays a vital role in the build-up to Sol RB13. The results provide the basis for seeding the entry, as well as the event itself offering overseas competitors, many of them first-timers, an opportunity to drive at competition speed on island tarmac. The venue will be confirmed nearer the time.

Victor Boyce, Director of Scotiabank’s Corporate and Commercial Business Unit, said: “We’re here this morning to announce a great partnership, between Barbadians’ favourite sport – rallying – and Barbadians’ favourite bank, Scotiabank! Today’s presentation marks the continuation of a relationship, which actually started last year when we came on board as a joint sponsor. We are really pleased and excited to increase our role and bring to you Scotiabank King of the Hill.

“There were several factors that drew us to making this investment in rallying. Most important was the connection with the community because, as I’m sure you all know, Scotiabank is very involved in that respect, so supporting rallying through King of the Hill was a natural fit for us. Rallying is a real community event – old and young, male and female and people from all classes of society come out to enjoy themselves. It is free and accessible to thousands of people . . . and this shows in the huge numbers that pack their baskets and coolers and line the stages every year to take in the action.

“It is also significant to us that Sol Rally Barbados pumps nearly Bds $4million into the economy and accounts for approaching 4,000 visitor nights each year. It is indeed a pleasure for us to be associated with an event that is a key driver of the Barbadian economy and helps maintain jobs and bring in foreign exchange.”

After receiving a giant sponsorship cheque, BRC Chairman Mark Hamilton said: “We’re really pleased that Scotiabank enjoyed the experience last year enough to want to come back and play a bigger role going forward as title sponsor. It is vital for the future of motor sport that we can attract sponsors from outside the automotive industry, and I am proud that the Barbados Rally Club is delivering a quality product that has attracted a blue chip sponsor such as Scotiabank . . . and a sponsor that clearly believes it is getting a return on its investment.”

Scotiabank is the longest-standing current sponsor of cricket in the region, having supported Kiddy Cricket for 14 years, an investment that has borne fruit as Kiddy Cricket alumni such as Kraigg Brathwaite and Kemar Roach have gone on to success with the Barbados and West Indies senior teams. Specific to Barbados, Scotiabank has been title sponsor of the Junior Calypso Monarch contest for many years.

Since it was first run in 2008, King of the Hill has been won by only three drivers: first, local aces Paul Bourne and Roger Skeete swapped back and forth, Bourne in 2008 & ‘10, Skeete in ’09 & ’11, in the second year Skeete doubling up by winning Sol RB11. Last year, England’s Paul Bird repeated the double.

Confirmation this week that Jamaica’s Jeffrey Panton has entered Sol Rally Barbados 2013 (June 1/2) in his ex-Marcus Gronholm Ford Focus WRC06 brings to four the entries confirmed for the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) new WRC-1 class in the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international.

Driving a Toyota Celica GT4 in 1998, Panton was the event’s first winner from the wider Caribbean, following local ace Roger Skeete and Ireland’s Kenny McKinstry, who had shared the earlier victories six-two. Since then, he has become the only driver to have won the ‘Big Three’ in regional rallying, the gravel events in Jamaica and Trinidad and the closed-road tarmac event in Barbados, his more recent successes achieved with regular co-driver and fellow-Jamaican Mike Fennell Jnr.

Six times the winner at home between 1994 and 2008, Panton ticked the final box in Trinidad in 2011 in an ex-Colin McRae Focus WRC00. Since replacing that with the newer car last March, he has further enhanced his reputation as a regional force by finishing second on his gravel debut in the car in Trinidad, third on his tarmac debut in Barbados, then adding victory in Rally Jamaica, the first driver to finish on the podium in all three events in the same year since Trinidad-based Jamaican John Powell in 2005.

Driven to victory in the 2007 Galway International Rally by double WRC Champion Gronholm, Panton’s car is run by Dom Buckley Motorsport, which also has an impressive regional record: cars run or supported by the UK preparation experts have won the last four major events – Powell (Subaru Impreza WRC S14) achieved consecutive victories in Jamaica 2011 and Trinidad 2012, followed by former UK National Champion Paul Bird (Focus WRC08) in Sol Rally Barbados and Panton’s seventh win in Jamaica.

Panton joins 12-time winner Skeete (Impreza WRC S12) and Paul Bourne (Focus WRC07), who won in 2003 & 07, in WRC-1, where they will also face Neil Armstrong, recently confirmed as the driver of the Simpson Motors/MML Suzuki SX4 WRC for 2013. With a further five entries already confirmed for WRC-2 (for cars built before 2004), and more in the pipeline for both classes, the organisers are confident of a record-breaking entry of WRC cars.

With two months still to go until entries close, Panton is one of three regional entries so far posted on line. For the fourth year, Paul Horton (Sky Motorsports/Java Island/Precision Racing/H Racing Ford Escort MkI) will represent the Turks & Caicos Islands, with Kris Yearwood of Barbados again the co-driver.

After his 2010 debut, Horton left his Honda Civic in the island to contest other rounds of the BRC Championship in 2011. With the Honda replaced by the Escort for Sol RB12, Horton remains a regular in island events: “I will hopefully be returning for most of the season, starting with the double-header event in March; the priority is Rally Barbados – I really want to finish the whole event, as we haven’t done that in three years.”

He retired from Sol RB10 with mechanical problems, then from both the subsequent events with gearbox issues. Before his Barbados debut, he had competed successfully in Targa Newfoundland in North America; in 2008, he won his class in the Civic, 24th overall, then moved up the order in 2009 to fifth, with another class win, in the Escort.

Also on the list is David Coelho of Trinidad & Tobago, co-driven in his Group A Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX by Britain’s James Harris, making their third visit. Having failed to finish Sol RB10, another weekend of dramas followed in 2011, Coelho missing a number of Saturday stages, then retiring with an ‘off’ just four stages into Sunday.

The Trinidad & Tobago Rally Club hosted its first event for 2013 this past Sunday February 24th. A large crowd gathered on the brand new “Jack & Jill” stage in Couva on a hot and dusty day.

Team “Betts Motorsport” kicked off the season in the same style that they finished off 2012. Driver James Betts alongside Navigator Jason Costelloe in their Group 3-A Mitsubishi Evolution 5 kept true to their motto of “flat out” to take top honours. The pair dominated the event by setting the fastest time on all 10 stages. Last year’s champions Cristian Bourne and Jesu de Gannes drove a clean and smart rally to finish in second position and run out as Group 2-N winners.

3rd overall went to the returning team of David Coleho and James Harris,the duo have not raced since April last year and stated beforehand that the goal was just to complete the event, with Rally Trinidad coming up this result with certainly boost the teams’ moral.

Donald Gopaul returned to the action after sitting out the 2012 season,with new navigator Joseph Ramoutar on board, Donald in his 2wd Group Super Modified 4 Lancer came an impressive 4th overall and the top 2wd car on the day. Rounding out the overall results where Reyaz Mohammed/Sayyad Saddiq (5th), Graig Sumair/Mathew Russell (6th) and Latiff Khan/Kurt de Freitas (7th).

John Powell/Nick Telfer missed the first stage but came in 2nd in group 2-N,whilst Devi Nath/Erica Dinnoo missed 3 stages with engine problems. Robert Cadiz and Sean Abed where the first victims for the year crashing out on the first stage.

Up next on the cards is the highly anticipated Rally Trinidad on March 22-24th,stay tuned to for more info!

As entries for Sol Rally Barbados 2013 (June 1/2) edged towards the starting list cap of 100 this week – the total hit 98 today (Friday) – father and son Eddie and Keith Power bring to four the number of first-time Irish crews entered for the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International. Entries remain open on the official web site, www.rallybarbados.net, for another three months.

Thanks to support from the island’s private-sector Tourism Development Corporation (TDC), the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) has seen massive growth in Irish interest in the last few years, directly attributable to those promotional programmes. BRC PRO Neil Barnard says: “While there is an historic link between the rallying communities in Ireland and Barbados, what we have experienced in recent years goes well beyond that.

“The competitions to recognise that island’s volunteer marshals with a free trip to Sol Rally Barbados and the parallel promotion through Pacenotes Rally Magazine has raised the profile of our event significantly. Over the past two years, we have attracted 50 new International drivers and co-drivers to the event, and to the island, around half from Ireland, where rallying is a National sport, much the same as here.”

Eddie Power, a class Champion in the Dunlop Irish National Rally Championship in 2005, is entered in the new WRC-2 class in a Toyota Corolla WRC, a sister car to that campaigned in recent years by Barbados Toyota dealer Roger Hill, both among the last cars built.

While Power Senior has only been rallying since 2000, co-driver Michael Morrissey’s career stretches back to the 1960s, since when he has won a number of titles, including two Irish National Championships and the Group N crown in the Middle East Championship.

Son Keith’s first rallying experience was as a co-driver in 1998, before he switched to driving, in a Toyota Corolla. He was the inaugural winner of the Junior class in the Galway Rally in 2005, won the 1600 class in the Southern 4 Championship the following year, then the S1600 class in the National Championship in 2007, by which time he was driving a Ford Puma. More recently, he was the overall two-wheel-drive Champion in the 2010 Southern 4 Championship and won the Carlow Motor Club Rallysprint in 2011.

For Sol RB13, Keith will be driving his factory-built Renault Clio S1600, originally campaigned in the Junior World Rally Championship in 2004 by Olly Marshall, before it was bought by Ireland’s Brian O’Mahoney, who used it with considerable success in National and International events in Ireland and the UK. Co-driver Jonathan McGrath has twice won the S1600 class in the Irish Championship.