Dane Skeete and Tyler Mayhew are seeking their third King of the Hill crown on Sunday
More than 120 cars, 50 from overseas, are listed on the running order published today (Thursday) for First Citizens King of the Hill (KotH), smashing last year’s record of 98 by more than 20 per cent. Drivers and co-drivers from 14 nations will contest Sunday’s (May 25) final shakedown ahead of BCIC Rally Barbados 2025 (May 30-June 1), the 35th edition of the Barbados Rally Club’s premier event.
Last year’s KotH winner Dane Skeete, who also won in 2020 in the Subaru Impreza WRC S12 in which his father Roger won KotH and Rally Barbados each three times, will face a strong challenge. BCIC RB24 winner Stuart Maloney (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) is yet to win KotH, but Jeff Panton of Jamaica (Ford Fiesta Rally2) has won back-to-back four times, sharing one win (2016) with two-time European Rally Champion Simon Jean-Joseph, who returns for the first time since 2017 with a Porsche 911 GT3.
The 17th edition of KotH returns to its most frequent location for the ninth time since 2011, thanks to the resurfacing of Hangman’s Hill in St Thomas by the Ministry of Transport & Works last November and further remedial work this week. Four timed runs will start at 9.50am, with the scheduled 5.00pm finish followed by a Prizegiving at the Vaucluse Raceway (VRW); Service Park for the day is Inchcape Barbados at Warrens.
The four-kilometre stage runs eastbound from Content (roughly the same start as in 2022) then up Dukes Hill under the bridge to the crossroads, heading south to enter the VRW north gate. Cars will exit through the Pit Gate, head round the iconic ‘Vaucluse 90’ and finish near the bottom of Hangman’s Hill. The Rally Experience (formerly VIP) and a large spectator area return to the outside of the ‘90’ for the first time since 2014.
The results will be used to seed BCIC RB25, which starts with the first of two floodlit Riddara SuperSpecials at Bushy Park in St Philip the following Friday evening and will end at VRW on Sunday afternoon. Only one RB25 entry is absent, New York-based Irish businessman Barry McKenna in countryman Declan Gallagher’s legendary Toyota Starlet; along with any others who either don’t compete or fail to set a time on Sunday, he will be seeded behind the last car in his class unless safety considerations dictate otherwise.
The field will run in reverse order of performance on Sunday, from the less modified cars up to the high-performance state-of-the-art four-wheel-drives, building the hype through each run and throughout the day. With 121 cars starting at 30-second intervals, each of the four runs will take around an hour.
Not far behind the fight for overall honours, a tight contest is also predicted in the two-wheel-drive category. Six-time KotH winner Roger Mayers (Toyota WR Starlet), brother Barry (Fiesta), who has won twice, and Rhett Watson (BMW M3), winner in 2017, are the likely front-runners, along with Jean-Joseph’s Porsche.
In 2023, New Zealander Hayden Paddon became only the fourth driver in 17 years to win King of the Hill and Rally Barbados in the same year. Panton achieved the feat three years in succession – 2016 thru’ 2018, although he tied for victory in KotH 2016 with Jean-Joseph – while the late Paul Bird from the UK and local driver Roger Skeete did so once each in 2012 and 2011 respectively.
BCIC Rally Barbados (May 30-June 1) is a tarmac rally with 22 special stages run on the island’s intricate network of public roads, under road closure orders granted by the Ministry of Transport, Works & Water Resources; Sunday’s (May 25) First Citizens King of the Hill, run under a similar arrangement, features four timed runs on a four-kilometre stage, with the results used to seed the running order for the main event.