Two-time Barbados Rally2 champion, Jeff Panton will face a revised cast of players when he starts his title defence at the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Shakedown Stages on Sunday.
In the closest finish so far, Panton won last year’s title by just two points from fellow Jamaican Kyle Gregg, who placed in the top three of the Rally2 standings for the third straight year. Each campaigned a Ford Fiesta Rally2, while Britain’s Rob Swann achieved his best finish with third place in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo.
Three more international newcomers are confirmed for BCIC Rally Barbados 2026, while former local class champions Brian Gill and Mark Thompson are joining the category and rising star Adam Mallalieu now has the latest Fiesta Rally2 machinery at his disposal.
Absent from competition for many years after twice winning the BRC Group N title in the early 2000s before returning in a BMW M3, Gill drives the ex-Mark Maloney Fabia Rally2 evo.
Thompson has been a regular thorn in the side of Rally2 and WRC runners with strong results in a Group A, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. His followers eagerly anticipate his first outing in the ex-Paul Horton Citroen C3 Rally2 this Sunday.
The youngest of the Rally2 competitors, Mallalieu, who turns 22 this week, has already shown his class over the past two years, winning the 2025 trophy for the highest-placed car homologated under the original FIA R5 regulations in an early-spec Fiesta R5.
The former Caribbean junior karting champion was this year’s first Rally2 winner in the Vaucluse Raceway Motorsport Club (VRMSC) double-header 10 days ago, with a debut win in a brand new Fiesta Rally2, which had arrived in the island just two days before.
Now fully up to speed with his ex-Osian Pryce Fiesta Rally2, having missed the start of last season, 2024 champion Josh Read and Panton were separated by just three-hundredths in the Motoring Club Barbados Inc’s (MCBI) recent Spring Blaze 26, where they finished second and third to Gregg.
Completing the roster of former champions is Stuart Maloney, who won the first R5 crown in 2022. While he has not rallied in the island since retiring from BCIC RB25, he finished second and fifth respectively at Brands Hatch and Donington Park in rounds of the UK’s Circuit Rally Championship this year. Brother Mark, who finished sixth at Brands Hatch, has upgraded to a Fabia RS Rally2 like Stuart’s, which has been re-shelled since his accident.
BMF Vice-President and Sport and Championship co-ordinator David Williams said: “There is a changing of the guard this year and I must thank Stan Hartling, his son Ben and Paul Horton of the Turks & Caicos Rally Team, who have been such loyal supporters of this championship and motor sport in the island for many years.”
Also absent this year is Senator Andrew Mallalieu, who has retired from competitive sport after 45 years. Having both been injured in an accident in BCIC RB25, he and co-driver Geoff Goddard decided it was time to hang up their helmets and focus full time on the development of the sport.
Provisional R5/Rally2 entries for 2026
Brian Gill (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo)
Kyle Gregg – JAM (Ford Fiesta Rally2)
Roger Hill (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo)
David Husbands (Ford Fiesta R5/Volkswagen Polo GTi R5)
Adam Mallalieu (Ford Fiesta Rally2)
Mark Maloney (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)
Stuart Maloney (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)
Tarik Minott – JAM (Ford Fiesta Rally2)
Jeffrey Panton – JAM (Ford Fiesta Rally2)
Josh Read (Ford Fiesta Rally2)
George Sherman – USA (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo)
Rob Swann – ENG (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo)
Mark Thompson (Citroen C2 Rally2)
(PR)
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