Edward Corbin leads the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Champion Driver title chase after five rounds. With nearly 60 drivers having now scored in the 2022 Driver’s and Class Championships, there’s a fresh look to the top 10 this year as newcomers are making their mark in the sport, with numbers also rising dramatically after the pandemic.

M4 leader Mark Thompson lies fourth with 73 points, his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX one of only two four-wheel-drive cars in the top 10, while Darren Lashley in his first season in the BRC Championship is an impressive fifth overall, leading SuperModified 1 in his Toyota Starlet (72pts). Stuart Garcia, who finished third overall in 2017, is sixth in his BimmaCup Too, leading the Clubman 3 class with 71 points.

Adrian Linton is seventh in his SM2 Vauxhall Astra VXR (66 pts), with three drivers tied for eighth on 65 points: Sol Rally Barbados winner Dane Skeete (Subaru Impreza WRC S12), who has his points limited in the under-subscribed WRC class, plus C2 BimmaCup drivers Sean Corbin, in his first Rally Club season as a driver, and Michael Worme.

Despite being the season’s best-supported class with 12 points-scoring drivers so far – Clubman 2 is close with 11 registered drivers – the first FIA R5 car is outside the top 10, the Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo of Reigning BRC Champion Stuart Maloney, whose title defence came unstuck when he retired early on day two of Sol Rally Barbados (June 4/5). Maloney is tied in 11th place on 63 points with Neil Corbin (Toyota GT86 CS-R3) and Jason Tull (Peugeot 106 Rallye S2), the leaders of M2 and C1 respectively.

Edward Corbin also leads the 2wd standings, which are based on overall finishing positions, so the totals differ from the class totals used for the Champion Driver standings: he has 55 points, two ahead of Logan Watson, who leads Modified 3 in his BMW M3, with Linton another four points adrift in third place. Skeete is ahead in 4wd with Maloney second on 59, just one ahead of Britain’s Rob Swann, who has accrued his points in both his R5 Fiesta Rally2 and Subaru Impreza WRC S12B, which he drove in First Citizens KotH.

BRC Vice-Chairman Neil Corbin said: “After all the challenges everyone faced during the pandemic, it is so encouraging to see rallying in such fine health. Not only do we have at least as many competitors as in recent pre-Covid years but seeing new names like Sean Corbin and Darren Lashley right up there in the top 10 and guys like Ryan Wood and Michael Worme making a comeback is really encouraging for the future. I wish everyone good luck for the rest of the season.”

There are three more rounds on the calendar, a Double-Header Sprint on August 21, followed by the Winter Rally on October 16. With the now-traditional enhanced scoring system applied to the season finale – 28 points for a win, 23 for second place, 20 for third and so on down to 10 for 10th place – there is still a total of 58 points on the table, so there remains huge scope for a shift in fortunes in the standings.