BIRD AND SWANN TO FLY IN FOR BRC WINTER RALLY

BRC17-18: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 30, 2017

Double Sol Rally Barbados winner Paul Bird and Rob Swann, who finished second in Sol RB17, will both compete in the final round of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Winter Rally at the end of next month. They will join regional regulars, including Jamaica’s Jeff Panton, who currently leads the BRC Champion Driver title chase, in what promises to be an explosive climax to the domestic season.

The final round of the 2017 BRC Driver’s and Class Championships will open with two special stages at Vaucluse Raceway (VRW) on the evening of Friday, November 24, followed by two loops of six stages each in the north of the island on Saturday; the first loop will run in daylight, the second after nightfall. There is all to play for in the BRC Championship, as most class battles remain unresolved; with no dropped scores this year and an enhanced points structure for the final round – a class win will earn 28 points (up from 20), second 23, third 20, down to 10 for 10th place – championship hopefuls will need to bring their best game.

Swann’s Elegant Hotels/Blue Sky Luxury/Cygnet Plant Subaru Impreza WRC S12B is due to ship from Portsmouth early this week, on the same Geest Line freighter that is carrying British entries for the Barbados Historic Rally Carnival, which starts at VRW on the previous Saturday (November 18). Swann, who equalled his best Sol RB result this year, will again have Darren Garrod of Wales as co-driver. For 2005 UK National Rally Champion Bird, it will literally be a flying visit to Barbados – also for his Frank Bird Poultry/Be Wiser Insurance/Hager/Wix Filters/Silkolene/Loco Energy Ford Focus WRC07 – as he will be competing in the PokerStars Rally in the Isle of Man on November 10-11, then the Grizedale Stages on December 2. As he intends to compete in both Carnival weekends, the car will be flown in both directions.

‘Birdy’s co-driver will be Scotland’s Stuart Loudoun, who finished fourth in Sol RB14 with Paul Bourne. In more than a decade of competition, he has gathered a broad range of experience across the world, competing the both the European and World Rally Championships. Bird said: “Stuart’s got loads of experience and is very organised. And I wanted someone who had done Barbados before and knew the event, so he is ideal for the job. I’m looking forward to it.”

Just last weekend (October 26-29), he was co-driver to Matthew Wilson in a Ford Fiesta R5 on Dayinsure Wales Rally GB, running comfortably inside the top 10 of WRC-2, until two punctures (with only one spare in the car) dropped them down the order during the long run on Saturday. They eventually finished 39th overall, of 66 finishers, and 17th in WRC-2. Matthew’s father Malcolm had more to celebrate, however, after M-Sport won the 2017 WRC Manufacturers Championship against the might of factory teams Citroen, Hyundai and Toyota, and M-Sport driver Sebastien Ogier clinched his fifth consecutive Drivers Championship.

Bird returned from his two-year absence from competition with a bang in August, finishing third against the Scottish Rally Championship regulars in his come-back event, the Grampian Forest Rally – Loudoun was also his co-driver on that occasion – then winning the Eventsigns Woodpecker Stages (September 2) with Welshman Jamie Edwards on the notes. On his return to compete in Barbados, Bird added: “I have really missed it, there’s nothing like it anywhere else, I really like the camaraderie and the fans are just amazing. It has been two-and-a-bit years, that’s too long.”

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