Britain’s first closed-road rally of the year, last weekend’s (February 21/22) East Riding Stages, was an ideal shakedown for seven British crews entered for May’s BCIC Rally Barbados.

Regulars Kevin Procter and Rob Swann finished fifth and 10th respectively and newcomer Stephen Pawson 11th, as all seven cars finished the 72-mile event. Just over two months from now, cars will ship from Portsmouth ahead of BCIC RB26 (May 29-31) and UK teams are well advanced with their plans.

With a reserve list already in place, entries for the 36th edition of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event close on the on-line portal rallybarbados.net on Sunday (March 1).

Based in Beverley, East Yorkshire, it is the country’s biggest closed-road rally and one of the most spectator-friendly; this year 149 starters tackled four stages on Saturday evening and 10 on Sunday.

A FanZone in the town centre hosted a Ceremonial Start and post-event trophy presentation, with a SuperSpecial stage just a short walk away. Swann and co-driver Tom Woodburn got stuck in a chicane in the first of Friday night’s stages in the Ford Fiesta WRC, losing 30secs, so Swann didn’t seem likely to add a third top 10 finish in Yorkshire.

An energetic fight back on Sunday, however, including two stage wins, from 126th after SS1, 36th overnight, landed him a third top 10. Procter and nephew Joe Cunningham, both of whom will again be in Barbados, suffered mixed fortunes.

With co-driver Rob Fagg in the Fiesta S2000, Procter was never out of the top six stage times, but Cunningham and Josh Beer (Fiesta WRC) had to deal with a power steering issue then a puncture on the final stage, coming home 39th. Pawson acquired his Fiesta WRC to replace a Subaru Impreza rolled on the Malcolm Wilson Rally in 2024; in only their second closed-road tarmac event, they were happy to be on the pace of the top 10 in Yorkshire.

With co-driver Liam Whiteley, a Motorsport UK Academy Graduate with a number of championship titles under his belt, their best has result been been ninth on last year’s Trackrod Forest Stages. Brothers Ben and Andrew Wilkinson finished 50th and second in class in their first event since last November after a winter rebuild of their Peugeot 106 Maxi, originally built by Harry Hockley.

Before the weekend, in 38 rallies in the car, almost all with Andrew as co-driver, Ben had already achieved 16 class wins, nine further class podiums and only four retirements, and BCIC RB26 is their first overseas event. The trip will celebrate Ben’s 50th birthday a few weeks later, and both brothers will travel with their wives and families, along with a service crew making up a group of 10.

Between now and arriving, Ben is hoping to arrange a session with three-time British Champion Matt Edwards, also well-known in the island, to work on car set-up. Jon and Allison Trenholme, whose Subaru Impreza has twice finished Rally Barbados (2017 & ’18), were 39th at the weekend, with Graham Haigh and Kari Bates 83rd in their British Airways-liveried Ford Escort MkII, heading for its seventh trip to the island.