Global Jamaican star McConnell enters BCIC RB26

Fraser McConnell, Jamaica’s most successful driver in international motorsport, will finally tick the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) premier event off his bucket list this year. Having first visited more than a decade ago, he has entered BCIC RB26 (May 29-31) in a Team Frazzz Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX with Justin Morin as co-driver.
 With a striking livery based on the black, green and gold of Jamaica’s national flag, reflecting support from the Tourist Board, along with JustBet, Barita, TruShake and Uncle Saaaal, his car docked at the Bridgetown Port last week and was moved to Pro Auto Works at Bushy Park. On his first visit to the island in RB15, McConnell saw Jeff Panton and John Powell, respectively, win outright and in Group N for Jamaica.
 ‘Frazzz’ says: “I am so excited to finally check Rally Barbados off my bucket list. I have always wanted to compete ever since I went to watch in 2015. Very rarely do you see fans with as much passion for motorsports as you do in Barbados, and I can’t wait to give them the show that they came to see.”
 A prior commitment means he will miss the BRC’s Shakedown Stages in two weeks, so he is entered for Saturday’s (March 14) Vaucluse Raceway Motorsports Club (VRMSC) Double-Header Sprint, also the Motoring Club Barbados Inc’s (MCBI) Spring Blaze on Sunday. This is vital for seat time, giving the car a thorough test on island road surfaces, and for developing relationships with co-driver and service crew.
 Co-driver and fellow-countryman Morin has rallied in the island before, with Panton; they finished sixth in an Evo IX in RB07, having retired three years earlier in a Toyota Celica GT4. He echoed his driver’s sentiments: “I am super excited to be back rallying in Barbados in 2026 after a 20-year hiatus, and looking forward to teaming up with Fraser who is a tremendous talent and it will be interesting to see how we stack up.”
 Born in Bog Walk in the heart of a 1990s gravel rally stage in Jamaica, 27-year-old McConnell’s journey through motocross, karting and circuit racing started at age eight, but the turning point was seeing rallycross on YouTube in 2017. That kick-started a global career, which includes winning the 2019 American RX2 Championship and 2022 Nitro RX European Supercar Championship and racing in Extreme E for teams run by former World Champions Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz.
 Now with more than 167,000 followers on Instagram, Frazzz becomes the third Rally Jamaica (RJ) winner to compete in Rally Barbados – he was the youngest-ever RJ winner in 2017 – joining Panton and Kyle Gregg, who won BCIC RB25.
 McConnell’s Evo IX runs in Modified 4, which has the biggest entry for some years, crews from England, Scotland and Wales taking on island brothers Kurt, Mark and Neil Thompson. McConnell says: “I won't be able to fight at the front of the rally with my Group A machine but I will definitely be trying to get in the mix when I can.
 “I have a lot to learn about Bajan roads and hearing pace notes again will be a bit different than what I have been used to. However, I am looking forward to challenges that Justin and I will face and you can count on us having a blast the entire way.”

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.