Didier Auriol is guest of honour for Rally Barbados 2005
International
recognition of Rally Barbados takes on a new dimension this week, with
the arrival at Grantley Adams International Airport on tomorrow
afternoon's (Thursday) Virgin Atlantic flight from London Gatwick of
1994 World Rally Champion Didier Auriol. The Frenchman is in the island
as the Barbados Rally Club's (BRC) guest of honour over the weekend of
its premier event.
The second event in the annual Barbados Rally Carnival, RB'05 has
attracted an entry of nearly 90 cars from Barbados, the wider Caribbean
and Europe. Over the five years of the Rally Carnival, more than 150
overseas drivers have come to Barbados, bringing with them many
thousands of supporters . . . but, never before a former World Rally
Champion.
Auriol will flag off the highest-seeded runners at The Start at
Simpson Motors from 9.00am on Saturday (May 28), then spectate over the
weekend's 26 special stages, before presenting the major awards at the
Official Prize-giving at The Boatyard on Monday.
BRC competition secretary and chairman of RB'05, Barry Gale, said:
"We are delighted that Didier has agreed to travel here; it gives Rally
Barbados a tremendous boost to know that someone of his standing is
happy to give our event his endorsement, and is a credit to all those
volunteers without whose help the Club would be unable to stage the
event.
"His appearance here has come about as a result of John Powell's
recent purchase of an ex-works Toyota Corolla WRC, in which Didier's
then team-mate Carlos Sainz won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1998. Through
his connections with former employees of Toyota Team Europe (TTE),
'Pentti' invited Didier to Barbados and he readily agreed.
"On behalf of the Barbados Rally Club, I would like to thank Virgin
Atlantic, the Elegant Hotels Group and, particularly, Sue Springer of
the BHTA, for their help in making this visit possible."
Auriol's World Rally Championship record is an impressive one; in
152 events, he finished on the podium 52 times - a remarkable
one-in-three - winning 20 rallies between 1988 and 2001. His victories
came in five different types of car, more than half in his days driving
the Lancia Delta Integrale, including six wins in 1992, an
unprecedented achievement in a single season.
After a collapse of the Lancia's challenge in the final three
events of that year - Auriol eventually finished third in the standings
- he had to wait until 1994 to win the title that most agreed was
rightfully his two years earlier. He did so at the wheel of a Toyota
Celica Turbo 4WD, in which he won three events, finished second twice
and third once.
Auriol drove for TTE between 1993 and 1999, so has connections both
with Powell's car, which the Jamaican has already driven in Barbados
this year, and the older ex-TTE Celica GT4 of local Toyota dealer Roger
Hill. In Sunday's International RallySprint at the Vaucluse Raceway,
Hill set a superb personal best time of 2m 03.99s, the fourth-fastest
time ever at the venue.
Rally Barbados 2005 is organised by the Barbados Rally Club in
association with Automotive Art Shell, Banks Breweries, Cingular, Da
Costa Mannings Autocentre, Digicel, DMS Distributors.com, McEnearney
Quality, Simpson Motors, Texaco West Indies and Total Sport. The event
is supported by Abacus Builders, The Boatyard, Nassco, SBI
Distributors, Stoute's Car Rental and Williams Equipment.
