Six ex-works World Rally Cars - the largest number ever assembled for one event in the Caribbean - head the provisional entry list for Rally Barbados, which will bring together National Rally Champions from Britain, Jamaica and Trinidad to go head-to-head with the island's best . . . a fitting celebration of the organising Barbados Rally Club's (BRC) 50th Anniversary.

Last year's winners, multiple Jamaican champions Gary Gregg and Hugh Hutchinson, return to defend their title in the ex-Carlos Sainz 2001-spec Ford Focus WRC; they will face combinations they have beaten before, including fellow-countrymen former Trinidad Champions John Powell/Michael March (ex-Didier Auriol Toyota Corolla), and 2004 UK National Champion Steve Perez (Ford Focus WRC), who will the have experienced Welsh co-driver Howard Davies alongside him this year on his third visit to the event.

New to the mix, in terms of equipment, will be England's Kevin Procter, who is contesting the BRC's blue riband event for the fifth time . . . in a fifth different car. Among the UK's strongest challengers, he arrives with the most successful ex-works Hyundai Accent WRC of all; no Accent ever made it on to the podium of a WRC event but, in the hands of Alister McRae, younger brother of former World Champion Colin, this car (index number X15 HMC) finished fourth in the 2001 Network Q RAC Rally, Britain's round of the World Rally Championship, and enjoyed regular top 10 finishes over the 2001-02 seasons, also driven by Freddy Loix and Armin Schwarz. Procter has already won an event in the car in the UK.

A combination of that and Procter's experience of the event suggests he may be the strongest European challenger yet to take the trophy 4,000 miles to the east. Very fast in 2003 in his mechanically-challenged Ford Sapphire Cosworth (which is back this year with Dave Bellerby behind the wheel), Procter finished fifth and highest-placed overseas driver in 2004in a Ford Escort Cosworth (also back this year, with Fred Davidson driving), and ninth in his Ford Puma Evo 4 x 4 in 2005. Turbocharger problems thwarted his challenge last year in a Subaru Impreza . . . but he will need to be watched carefully in 2007.

In terms of WRC machinery, home honour will be defended by Paul Bourne, whose ex-prodrive Subaru Impreza WRC was the first car built to the then-new WRC regulations in 1996 to win an event, and 10-times winner of the BRC's premier event, Roger Skeete, although details of his ex-factory Ford Escort WRC are yet to be revealed.

Entry statistics countdown:
+ there are currently 80 entries
+ there are 30 competitors from Europe
+ the entry includes 22 four-wheel-drive cars
+ with 19, Toyota is the best-represented manufacturer
+ with 18, Ford is just one behind
+ there are 16 competitors from the region
+ there are 14 manufacturers represented
+ drivers from 11 nationalities will participate
+ there are 10 female co-drivers

Rally chairman Barry Gale noted: "With the revision of our regulations for the three years from 2007, and the split of Modified 8 into two groups, to deal with the World Rally Cars, I am delighted that we have 10 cars in the WRC class . . . a brilliant entry for Barbados. And it's even better that six of those are original factory cars. We're really moving motor sport on in the island, and it couldn't have happened at a better time than during the Barbados Rally Club's 50th Anniversary year."

Rally Barbados is organised by the Barbados Rally Club; each day is a separate qualifying round of the Texaco BRC Rally Championship and the BRC Driver's Championship. Principal sponsors are Automotive Art, Banks Holdings Ltd, DaCosta Mannings Auto Centre, Digicel, McEnearney Quality, Simpson Motors, Texaco and Williams Industries. Associate sponsors are Armag, the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, Crane & Equipment, Essco, Harris Paints, Nassco and SOL.

RALLY BARBADOS 2007
Provisional entry list at May 11, 2007

Key to nationalities (competitor from Barbados unless shown):
ENG - England; ESP - Spain; HOL - The Netherlands; JAM - Jamaica; NIR - Northern Ireland; SCO - Scotland; SVG - St Vincent & The Grenadines; TDAD - Trinidad & Tobago; USA - United States of America; WAL - Wales

+ group classifications subject to scrutineering of overseas entries

+ driver/co-driver (car) - listed alphabetically by Group

Modified 8 - WRC
Paul Bourne/Stuart Maloney (Subaru Impreza WRC)
Brett Clarke/Garry Clarke (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5)
Gary Gregg - JAM/Hugh Hutchinson - JAM (Ford Focus WRC)
Trevor Manning/James Betts (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII)
Harold Morley - ENG/Geoff Goddard (Subaru Impreza WRC S9)
Jeffrey Panton - JAM/Justin Morin - JAM (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)
Steve Perez - ESP/Howard Davies - WAL (Ford Focus WRC)
John Powell - JAM/Michael March - JAM (Toyota Corolla WRC)
Kevin Procter - ENG/Stewart Gill (Hyundai Accent WRC)
Roger Skeete/Ian Griffith (Ford Escort WRC)

Modified 8 - A
Dave Bellerby - ENG/Kevin Franks - ENG (Ford Sierra Cosworth)
Fred Davidson - ENG/Richard Pulleyn - ENG (Ford Escort Cosworth)
Barry Gale/Ryan Rodriguez (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (Toyota Celica GT4)
Andrew Johnson - ENG/Tony Walker - ENG (Subaru Impreza WRC STi)
Ainsley Lochan - TDAD/tba (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
Kirk Watkins/Max Ferri (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V)

Production 4
Neil Armstrong/Barry Ward (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
Graeme Finlayson - SCO/Martin Atwell (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III RS)
Ryan Hutchinson/Melissa Blades (Toyota Celica GT4)
Geoff Noel/Kriegg Yearwood (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)
Steve Ollivierre - SVG/Dominic Ollivierre - SVG (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII)

Group B
Andrew Costin-Hurley - ENG/Michael Carrington (Ford Puma)
John Hardman - NIR/Carole Hardman - ENG (Ford Fiesta)

SuperModified 11
Eric Allamby/Dwayne Marshall (Mitsubishi Lancer)
Calvin Briggs/Hulita Brathwaite (Ford Escort MkII)
Sammy Cumberbatch/Nicholas Yarde (BMW M3)
St Elmo Cumberbatch/Owen Cumberbatch (BMW E36)
Robert Dick - WAL/Barry Green - ENG (Ford Escort MkII)
Nicholas Gill/Sue Rogers (Mazda 3)
Andrew Jones/Mark Thompson (Ford Escort MkII)
Graham Manning/Alex Whitehead (Ford Escort MkII)
Keeva Seegobin - TDAD/Kevin Mohammed - TDAD (Toyota Corolla Turbo)
Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell (BMW M3)
Martin Stockdale - ENG/Mark Swallow - ENG (BMW M3 GTR)
Geoffrey Ullyett/Jamie Marsh (Nissan 200Y)

SuperModified 10
Mark Chandler - ENG/Michael Lund - ENG (Ford Escort MkII)
Sean Gill/Michael Cummins (Suzuki Swift)
Rohan Hall/Pedro Thomas (Ford Escort MkII)
Mark Hamilton/Clive Howell (Ford Escort MkII)
Wayne King/tba (Peugeot 306)
Stuart McChlery/Martin Goddard (Ford Escort MkI)
Paul McMullan - ENG/tba (Suzuki Swift)
Cliff Roett/Bryan Hurley (Toyota Starlet)
Ralph White/Chris O'Neal (Toyota Starlet)

SuperModified 9
Neil Corbin/Jeremy Roach (Toyota Starlet)
Jeremy Gonzalves/Natasha Farnum (Suzuki Forsa GTi)
Allan Maynard/Jeremy Croney (Toyota Starlet)
Josh Read/Mark Jordan (Toyota Starlet)
Winston Thompson/Brian Gibson (Toyota Starlet)
Stuart White/Brandon McKenzie (Toyota Starlet)
David Williams/Kristian Yearwood (Toyota Starlet)
Ryan Wood/Raymond Parris (Toyota Starlet)

Historic
Wayne Manning/Willie Hinds (Ford Escort MkI)

Modified 7
David Brewster/Robert Simmons (Peugeot 205GTi)
John Corbin/Owen Proverbs (Toyota Corolla)
Greg Cozier/Antonio Da Silva (Ford Escort RS2000)
Freddie Gale/Kyle Proverbs (Toyota Corolla RunX)
Peter Gallagher - IRL/tba (Peugeot 306 S16)
Ron Layne/Giselle Layne (Nissan Sunny)
Adrian Linton/tba (Vauxhall Astra GSi)
Roger Marshall/Bruce Lambert (Hyundai Accent)
Frans Verbaas - HOL/tba (Opel Kadett) - P3 merged
Simon Wallis - ENG/tba (Peugeot 205GTi)
Logan Watson/Rhett Watson (Ford Escort MkI)
tba - JAM/tba - JAM (Peugeot 206 SW GTi)

Modified 6
Jamal Brathwaite/Daniel Small (Toyota Starlet)
Daryl Clarke/Russell Branker (Mitsubishi Mirage)
Edward Corbin/Mark Perkins (Daihatsu Charmant)
Josh Delmas/Lisa Roett (Toyota Corolla GTi)
Tarik Minott - JAM/tba (Suzuki Ignis JWRC)
Shareef Walcott/Barry Hill (Toyota Corolla)
Ian Warren/Matthew Staffner (Peugeot 206)
Danny Williams/Nick Fields (Ford Fiesta)

Modified 5
Andy Carter - ENG/Rob Brook - ENG (Vauxhall Nova)
Kenny Hall - SCO/Fenny Wesselink - HOL (Opel Corsa)

Production 2
Neil Barnard/Kevin Massiah - USA (Suzuki Ignis Sport)
Ryan Corbin/Christian Sampson (Peugeot 106)
Gary Mendes/Russell Gilkes (Toyota Starlet) - P1 merged
Martin Taylor - IRL/Janet Brown - IRL (Proton Satria)