BCIC RB26 entry list already oversubscribed

Entries for BCIC Rally Barbados 2026 have been posted at an unprecedented rate since the October 1 opening date. As the provisional entry list for the 36th edition of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event goes live on rallybarbados.net today (January 1), the maximum start list of 120 is already oversubscribed.

  BCIC RB26 will run from Friday to Sunday, May 29-31, with The Auto & Rally Show and King of the Hill, the final shakedown and seeding event, the previous weekend (May 23/24). In the first two years of title sponsorship from BCIC, the event has broken all previous records, with 121 starters last year, including a record 51 from overseas.

  Event Director Neil Barnard said: “While we were anticipating another strong entry following last year’s record-breaking event, I for one did not expect this to be the situation on January 1. By this time last year, we had less than 50 entries, so for us to already have a reserve list is quite astonishing.

  “Not all of those entered have yet paid the entry deposit introduced this year, which is why the on-line list doesn’t reflect the total number. The situation will clearly change - more than 25 crews withdrew last year for a number of different reasons - so we are still accepting entries.”

  All those on the provisional entry list have been informed that the event has already reached the maximum number for both local and international crews, although not yet for regional crews. Those who have paid their deposits are listed on-line unless they are currently reserves. The entry is in the dropdown list under the Competitors heading.

  Among nearly 90 entries published today are 10 first-time international crews, among them six from Ireland, continuing the resurgence of support which started last year, plus eight more Irish and Scottish crews who are returning after first making the trip in 2025.

  Since the BRC, which will mark its 70th Anniversary in 2027, first ran the International All-Stage Rally in 1990, the event has grown into the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International and a key National Event on ‘Motorsport Island’s sports-tourism calendar. It has regularly contributed more than Bds $4 million to the economy, much of it in valuable foreign exchange and, in 2025, accounted for more than 4,500 visitor nights at a traditionally quiet time of the year for tourism.

BCIC Rally Barbados (May 29-31, 2026) is a tarmac rally with around 20 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; King of the Hill (May 24), run under a similar arrangement, features four timed runs on a roughly four-kilometre stage, with the results used to seed the running order for the main event.

For media information only. No regulatory value.

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