Jeffrey Panton and Mike Fennell Jr are looking for a hat-trick in Caribbean motor sport this year.
Fresh from winning Rally Jamaica last month, Panton, one of the region’s most experienced drivers, will campaign in the KIG/Rubis/Blue Orchids Hotel Ford Focus WRC06 in which they finished second last year to double-winner Paul Bird, who is chasing a hat-trick of victories in his Focus WRC08.
Saying that he has some feathers to pluck this year, Panton admitted that he confirmed his participation this year after learning that Bird had entered.
Pointing out that the Briton has been very hard to beat, Panton acknowledged that Bird had been quite helpful to him in Barbados, giving pointers over the past two years on how to go faster in the Focus.
“Maybe he will give me the one last pointer I need to surpass him next year,” he quipped.
“Given our plans for 2014 to enter a couple of local events before, we think we will be right up to speed and at the same time very comfortable in the car for Sol Rally Barbados 2014,” the Jamaican added.
Since switching to the former car of Marcus Gronholm, Panton has finished on the podium in regional rallying’s “Big Three” for two straight seasons.
In 2012, the Jamaican pair finished second on their gravel debut in the car in Trinidad, third on Panton’s tarmac debut in Barbados, and then added to his tally of six victories on the loose in Jamaica.
Last year, Panton and Fennell won Rally Trinidad for the second time in three years, finished second in Barbados, then chalked up an eighth win in Jamaica last December.
Panton’s three wins in Trinidad and Jamaica, along with the wins of Trinidad-based Jamaican John Powell in a Subaru Impreza WRC S14 in Jamaica 2011 and Trinidad 2012, and Bird’s double in Barbados have contributed to an enviable record for cars run or supported by British preparation firm Dom Buckley Motorsport, which have won the region’s last seven major events.
Sol Rally Barbados is scheduled for May 31 and June 1, with scrutineering and the Scotiabank King of the Hill slated for May 24 and 25.
