STOCKDALE RETURNS FOR SOL RALLY BARBADOS 2012
Popular British ace Martin Stockdale heads the list of returning international drivers whose names are among more than 40 entries so far received via the event’s official web site – www.rallybarbados.bb – for the 2012 running of the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport international, Sol Rally Barbados (June 9/10).
Nicknamed ‘Mad-dale’ by island fans for his flamboyant driving style in a string of BMWs, Stockdale will be making his 12th consecutive appearance in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event; his co-driver in the BMW M3 Compact will be Mark Swallow, who will be competing in the island for the eighth time.
Three times a class-winner in the past decade, Stockdale is entered in the hotly-contested SuperModified 11 class, in which he finished fourth in 2011 and 18th overall. His opposition will include another returning crew from Britain, Nigel Worswick and Lindsey Pilkington, who finished 26th overall and fifth in SM10 on their first visit to the island last year. For 2012, the Ford Escort MkII has received an engine transplant, moving it up a class.
The rallying careers of both Stockdale and Worswick date back many years, both of them having entered – and finished – Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship more than once during the 1990s. At the time, Stockdale drove an Opel Monza-engined Vauxhall Carlton, unique in British rallying, while Worswick was more conventional, missing out on a top 10 finish by just one second in 1996 in a Ford Sierra Cosworth 4 x 4, having finished in the top seven on the last five of 26 special stages.
Back for his ninth visit is Britain’s Andrew Costin-Hurley, who will again contest Group B in the Ford Puma, in which he won the class in Rally Barbados in 2007 & ’08, and in Shell V-Power King of the Hill in ’09; fellow-Brit Shaun Mellett returns for his third visit as co-driver since 2009, when he came to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary. An experienced Indy car and F1 engineer, Costin-Hurley created the Puma himself with 300bhp 2-litre turbo, rear-wheel drive, Sierra running gear and Escort WRC suspension.
Sol Rally Barbados Chairman Barry Gale said: “It is always a pleasure to welcome our repeat visitors, and ‘Mad-dale’ is right there at the top of the list, as he hasn’t missed a year since his first visit in 2001. Not only has he been one of the most entertaining to watch, as our fans really do enjoy a sideways BMW, but he’s also been very competitive, taking a trophy back on the plane with him nearly every time.”
