SKEETE FALLS FROM LEAD

As predicted there was a wet start to the first day of Sol Rally Barbados with crews tip-toeing over the first stage of the day.

Everyone knew there was going to be a close battle and some even predicted the FIA R5 modern rally cars would bring the fight to the WRC in these conditions.

However, none could predict that it would be the local crew of Andrew Mallelieu that would be the stage winner in the first two stages of the day.

In his Ford Fiesta R5, Mallelieu was the leader on the provisional results after the first loop of three stages.

Initially a ten-second penalty appeared on the provisional results for Barbados Dane Skeete who had been in hot pursuit of Mallelieu.

Yet, by the end of the fourth stage to start the second loop Skeete in the Subaru Impreza S12B had taken over the lead.

The stages however were still tricky as now there were dry and wet areas to contend with.

With the stages drying the WRC competitors also started to stretch their legs and Mallelieu began to slip further behind.

He went from first to second. Then fourth as the UK’s Rob Swann and Jamaica’s Jeffrey Panton moved up the ladders.

Six seconds covered the top four while USA’s Ken Block was 13 seconds adrift of the leader at this point.

The top six was completed by Barbados Stuart Maloney also in a R5 and a further three seconds off.

These top six were all in striking distance of each other, while 19 seconds adrift was Trinidad and Tobago’s David Coelho in his R5.

However, then the last stage of the day Skeete was seen creeping through as the Subaru broke a rear right drive shaft. He dropped 22 seconds on the final stage and this put him 18 seconds behind the leader in sixth place. Skeete had also been plagued with a launch problem which he said he had to do manually and was leaking seconds to his rivals

Swann assumed the lead at the end of the day despite his battle with the wet and standing water. Panton is second and mentioned he was struggling to find a rhythm and keep the foot down in some high speed places, while Block is third.

Nipping at Block’s bumper is Stuart Maloney who is less than a second behind in the podium chase as he sits in fourth place.

The top ten is dominated with the WRC or FIA R5 cars and Andrew Jones leads SM2 sitting 11th overall, while David St. Hill is threader of M3 and Wayne Archer leads Historic 2. (CG)