Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard launch back into action this weekend, driving their first Rally Barbados. The duo will drive a Hyundai i20 R5 for the three-day event, running over 111.20km of tarmac surfaces.
The 2023 Rally Barbados kick into gear at 11.00 am on Saturday (NZ Time) with the Super Special Stage at Bushy Park before returning for a busy Saturday with three runs over three Special Stages.
The 4.10km Lakes to Upper Park 1 begins proceedings at 2.25 am on Sunday, followed by the 4.00km Four Hills to French Village and 7.6km Church Hill to Mt. Poyer.
Sunday brings ten more stages, run over three courses with three passes on each. The 6.1km Padmore to Three House kicks off at 2.00 am, followed by the 7.3km Feathebed Lane to Ellesmere and 6.3km Sweet Vale to Malvern.
A return to the Bushy Park Super Special Stage concludes the rally at 8.30 am on Monday.
Paddon and Kennard have already tasted success in Barbados since arriving on the island, winning the First Citizens King of the Hill shakedown last weekend, which also set the road position for this weekend’s rally.
Following that victory, Paddon said, “The atmosphere of the rally is very energetic, and we’re enjoying it, but we’ve had to really adjust to the heat with it being very warm.
“We’ve only seen the one stage so far, and we see that the grip is always changing with the road surfaces. We’re looking forward to seeing the other stages, and we understand there are some tricky places, and we need to watch out for these.
“The locals clearly are going to be very fast next weekend as they certainly know the roads well. We’re here to enjoy ourselves, but once the helmet goes on, we try to do the best job we can, and we’d like to win, but we know it will not be simple.”
The Rally Barbados Facebook page will provide updates throughout the event, while live timings can be found through the link attached.
Header Image: Barbados Rally Club/Gerrard Wilson,
