Panton is back and better than ever!

Jeff Panton's long awaited return to action is almost at hand. Having seen his Ford Fiesta WRC for the first time on Monday, the next few days will be spent testing and getting used to his new office. The first taste of Barbadian tarmac will come on Saturday for the test event, followed by the Hammer Time double header on Sunday. We had a brief chat with Jeffrey to get his thoughts on his new car, as well as his plans for the protracted 2020 season.

Knowing that Jeffrey was in the market for a new car to replace his Ford Focus WRC06, many fans were surprised to see Jeffrey start the year in a Fiesta R5. This changed soon after his first event in the car. Just how did that change come about? "It was always our plan to go to a Fiesta WRC. At the time we made the deal for the R5 Fiesta, there were no WRC Fiestas available. So we decided the best course of action would be to do a deal with the remains of the Focus and get an R5 so we could have the feeling of being back in a car and do a regional event in the UK before it came to Barbados. After the car arrived here, we would do whatever lead up events they were before Sol Rally Barbados just to have seat time and get back into a rhythm and then hopefully be able to do a deal with the R5 for a WRC Fiesta. Then the whole Covid-19 pandemic hit and a Fiesta WRC suddenly became available and we were able to complete a deal for that."

Jeffrey's first time seeing his new machine in person was on Monday evening at Bushy Park. So having never ever seen it before, far less even sat in it, what are his early expectations, especially compared to his beloved Ford Focus WRC? "I think there will quite a few differences. I presume the Focus was a bit more powerful and torquey than the Fiesta, obviously given the two engine sizes - 2 liter versus a 1.6. The Fiesta however, should be a lot more nimble, handle much better and brake much better. Even with a lower amount of power, the WRC cars of that era are roughly half a second per kilometer quicker than the older cars like the Focus and that was all down to braking and handling. This car isn't a 'normal' WRC car, it's been upgraded from the reguar WRC 1600 spec to something closer to the WRC 2 liter spec that we had before. It should be more powerful than a normal 1600 WRC. It's all up in the air. As I said, I haven't even driven it yet, it remains to be seen what it's capable of."

As if having his hands full learning a new car at the sharp end of the field wasn't enough, Jeff also has to contend with the small matter of the resumption of a rivalry which has been growing more intense over the last two years. Rob Swann has taken the fight to Jeffrey consistently and looked nailed on to conquer, but has been foiled by a combination of the slimmest of margins and bad luck. Rob is in a new car too, as fate would have it- a 1600 Fiesta WRC as well. Jeffrey gave us his thoughts on how he expects things to go this year. "It was as close as ever before and I presume it's going to be even closer now! We're both in new machines, his car is new to him as mine is to me. I'm returning from the accident, as you know- so I don't know how up to speed I'm going to be but I'll just do my best. It's going to be close for sure."

The local rally schedule wasn't immune from the havoc wreaked by Covid-19. Thankfully, however we are set to have a full weekend of action this weekend, with Flow King of the Hill and Sol Rally Barbados in late October. With so few events to get acquainted with his Fiesta, Jeff's approach to events must take on a measured approach. "It's a fine line between being cautious and sensible and not doing anything stupid. It is a new car and it's going to react a lot differently to the what we're used to. With the Focus, I knew everything that car was going to do. I had been driving it at such a pace for so many years, I was able to learn the car very well. So sitting in this car now, it's going to take time to learn it and during that time I just have to be cautious."

With testing scheduled for the next couple of days, what does this entail for Jeff and co-driver Mike Fennell? Bearing in mind that the surface at Bushy Park and that of the stages on the roads are quite different. "Testing here at Bushy Park is mainly to make sure that the car is working, nothing is wrong, getting back some seat time in something, so that I'm not going into the events on the weekend blind. I don't even know how to launch the car yet! Car set ups will be done once we're actually at the stage where we can get some feedback. We'll have an engineer with us that can take what I'm telling him, and make the changes to the car to make it better for the stages."

If you paid any attention to Jeffrey Panton's social media, you'd know he's been looking forward to his return for quite some time. So have the fans, to be honest. That time is almost at hand, and what better way than events on consecutive days? A big thank you to Jeffrey for taking the time out to chat with us and we look forward to what this weekend has in store. Stay tuned to all of our social media for updates, times and full event coverage.

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