SOL RALLY BARBADOS

Scrutineering: both the day and venue for Local & International Scrutineering have been changed; this important part of the build-up to Sol RB2010 will now be staged on Saturday, May 22, in the spacious grounds of Simpson Motors, Warrens, St Michael. Sol RB2010 Chairman Barry Gale explains: “Our final plans will be revealed shortly, but we’re aiming to increase the activity at Scrutineering significantly, also to create a more formal segment in the early evening for an official welcome. In effect, that will replace the Ceremonial Start, which we introduced last year; while that innovation was a great success, there are those who felt it could be greatly improved if there were a couple of night-time special stages nearby . . . bearing in mind the tough economic climate, 2010 was definitely not the year to start investigating what could be a potentially costly innovation! Also, having Scrutineering on Saturday is generally a lot more convenient for the fans and will allow a potentially greater number of people to attend, so we can also hype them up for Shell V-Power King of the Hill on Sunday.”

Shell V-Power King of the Hill: the venue for this vital ‘shakedown’ the previous weekend has again been changed, although it will once more run on Sunday. This year’s venue will be the popular Sailor Gully stage in St Peter, which is not included in the route for Sol Rally Barbados for the first time in many years. Service will be at the Welchtown Plantation, St Peter, which will also be the venue for the evening Prizegiving

Sol Rally Barbados 2010 - route: in a major re-think of the route for the 20th Anniversary running of the BRC’s International All-Stage Rally, all but one of the special stage venues has undergone some significant change. Full details will be confirmed when the Rally Schedule is published on May 12, but the route will be cover fewer stage venues (five in total), equaling 24 special stages - 12 on Saturday, 12 on Sunday, although the overall stage distance will be virtually the same

Sol Rally Barbados 2010 – Shell V-Power SuperSpecial: for the first time since its introduction, the Sunday SuperSpecial will be included in the results of Sol RB2010; in previous years, it has only been necessary for competitors to start the SuperSpecial in order to be included in the overall results, but this year’s two runs – special stages 23 and 24 – will be included in the timing calculations

Sol Rally Barbados 2010 - Sunday Cup Opening Car: among other changes to the running of the event is the introduction of what is, in effect, a second Zero Car; this will run between the last of the crews still in overall contention and the first of the Sunday Cup competitors to help ensure that spectator control is maintained during the three-minute break

Media enquiries: e-mail – robin@bradfax.com