After a thrilling day of high-speed rally action on the 4.1-kilometer Mapps to Stewarts Hill stage in Barbados’ St. Philip parish, British driver Joe Cunningham and his co-driver Kari Bates have claimed top honors at the 2025 First Citizens King of the Hill, breaking a 11-year drought for British competitors at the prestigious pre-Rally Barbados seeding event.
Cunningham’s victory marks the first win for a British driver at King of the Hill since Paul Bird took the top spot in 2014, while Bates made history of her own as only the second female co-driver ever to claim a win at the event, following in the footsteps of Kirsty Riddick, who won alongside Bird back in 2012. Speaking to reporters immediately after the final time check, Cunningham shared that the result far outstripped his pre-event goals. “I never actually expected to stand on the top step of the podium here – I was just targeting a top 10 finish going into the day,” he explained. “The route worked perfectly for our car, and we pushed as hard as we possibly could. This is Kari’s first event with me, but everything clicked straight away, and we couldn’t be happier with how it went.”
Now, Cunningham and Bates turn their attention to the main event: BCIC Rally Barbados. The driver acknowledged that repeating his King of the Hill success will be a far greater test, noting the key differences between the seeding event and the main rally. “King of the Hill sees you run the same short stage four times, but Rally Barbados is a completely different beast – local drivers know every twist and turn of the stages far better than I do,” he said. “There’s no extra pressure on me, though. I’m just going to go out there, enjoy every minute, and I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”
Barbadian fan favorite Dane Skeete crossed the line second, just 1.06 seconds behind Cunningham, matching his second-place finish from 2024. Skeete admitted that he had hoped to take the win, but noted that starting first on the road always brings extra challenges, and he is already gearing up to fight for the overall Rally Barbados title this weekend. “Once all my car’s systems hold up, there’s no reason I can’t challenge for the top spot,” Skeete said. “I just need to get through the opening super special stage at Bushy Park safely, then I’ll start pushing for the win on Saturday.”
Third place went to 2024 King of the Hill champions Stuart Maloney and Kristian Yearwood, who finished 2.27 seconds off the winning time. Maloney said the result exceeded his own expectations, as he is still working to rebuild his confidence after past incidents on high-speed stages. The early part of Sunday’s event brought a scary reminder of the risks of rally racing: last year’s overall Rally Barbados winners Kyle Gregg and Kreigg Yearwood crashed heavily at the Three Houses section of the stage. Fortunately, both competitors walked away from the incident without injury, though their car suffered extensive damage that rules them out of the main rally this weekend. Learning of Gregg’s crash actually helped Maloney refocus, he explained: “Hearing about Kyle’s incident was not nice, but going in with no real expectations for a high result let me just focus on driving clean and keeping the car on the road. My rally starts on Saturday, and I know I have the pace to fight for the win.”
In the two-wheel drive category, Barbadian duo Suleman Esuf and Asif Suleman claimed their first ever category win in their BMW 1M, finishing sixth overall with a time just 2.98 seconds behind the leader. Esuf said the result matched exactly what the team had targeted heading into the event. “The car felt solid during testing, so I came in with a lot of confidence that we had the pace to pull this off,” he explained. “Everything came together perfectly on the day. Now, as the first two-wheel-drive car starting on the road for Rally Barbados, our focus is on staying smart, keeping consistent, and maintaining our momentum through the weekend.”
One of the biggest crowd favorites of the day was not eligible for overall honors, but still drew massive attention: the Open R/GT class Porsche 992 Rally GT driven by former FIA Rookie of the Year Zane Maloney and co-driver Luke Staffner. Thousands of spectators lined the stage, with large crowds gathering at the end of the 900-meter Thicket straight – the fastest section of the course – to catch a glimpse of the car, and many fans waited after the run to snap selfies with the spectacular vehicle. Despite the early morning heavy showers that hit the region, fans turned out in droves to watch the action, filling every vantage point along the stage route.
The full top 10 results for the 2025 First Citizens King of the Hill are as follows: fourth place went to Great Britain’s Rob Swann and Tom Woodburn, while fifth was taken by Adam Mallalieu of Great Britain and Peredur Davies of Wales. Seventh place went to Jamaica’s Jeffrey Panton and Wales’ Matt Edwards, eighth to Barbados’ Barry Mayers and Moishe Steinbok, ninth to Barbados’ Josh Read and Mark Jordan, and tenth rounded out the top 10 by Barbados’ Mark Maloney and Justin Maloney.