The future: R5 or WRC for Rally Barbados?

The organisers of Rally Barbados have been watching developments in Europe very closely, and considered a switch to R5 cars at the front of its field instead of WRC cars for 2018.

However, a decision on that has been postponed until 2019, meaning next year’s event – now confirmed for June 1-3 – will rumble to the sound of World Championship exotica once more at least.

The decision has been welcomed, as although the move would bring the event into line with major events in Europe, not a single R5 car entered the event in 2017.

“The guys who come to the event are clubmen, mostly in their 40s and 50s,” says 2017 runner-up on the event in a Subaru World Car, Darren Garrod. He also co-drives in an R5 for Matt Edwards in the British Championship.

“The R5 is a young man’s car. It’s physical to drive and not easy to drive by a long way. The old two-litre world cars are so powerful that they can get you out of trouble, whereas the R5s need to be driven with precision and exit speed is key. They can afford to lift in the old two-litre cars and it doesn’t make too much of a difference, whereas in an R5 car you can’t.

“I said to the organisers ‘look at your entries, how many of them are R5 cars? None’ and I said ‘there’s your answer.’”

It must be enticing to switch to the R5 in an attempt to attract even more Europeans. But doing that at the expense of local crews still using WRC cars and the result could be disastrous. “Natural progression” as coined by Garrod is the correct way forward. As the two-litre world rally cars age, parts and servicing will become more expensive. The R5 is a alternative sat there in waiting.