This year's SOL Rally Barbados will see a change of driver in the Weir Laundry Equipment Rally Team, with Rob Smith taking over the drive from Rob Weir. Smith, who is responsible for the preparation of the team's cars with his RSR preparation company, replaces Rob Weir who is still recovering from a huge accident on last year's Woodpecker Stages, but will be co-driven by Ross Weir on his third trip to the Caribbean event, where Rob and Ross have obtained class awards on both their previous two visits. "I am gutted not to be doing the rally, but my injuries have stopped me. The new car is immaculate and a credit to RSR," said Rob. "It's nice to have received so many plaudits about the car on our Facebook page, especially from fellow competitors." It has been a hectic few months for RSR getting the new Subaru Impreza finished in time for shipping to Barbados. The car is now immaculate in its new black and gold colour scheme. This year's event has attracted a record 14 cars in the highly competitive WRC class, in the entry of 95 cars. This year's event is also slightly longer to previous years with 128 kilometres of high speed action, and starts on Friday evening with a super special at a redeveloped Bushy Park Racing Circuit. Saturday consists of 12 stages in the north of the island with a further 10 tests on the Sunday in the south, before the finish back in Bushy Park. The weekend prior to SOL Rally Barbados is the Scotiabank King of the Hill where competitors get chance for last minute adjustments to their car over the bumpy tarmac roads, where crews get three runs at the test – their fastest time counting towards their seeding for Rally Barbados. The King of the Hill attracts a huge number of spectators which would rival many WRC events. Rob and Ross will be pushing hard to be in the mix for honours come Sunday afternoon.