HIGHWORTH rally driver Shelly Taunt and co-driver Julie Murphy returned from Barbados with mixed emotions after retiring their Subaru Impreza at the on the SOL Rally Barbados.

Taunt struck a bank at full speed, causing damage to the rear of her car, and despite frantic repairs by her dedicated mechanics, the girls were forced to withdraw after they went over the time limit.

Although event rules allow teams to continue, they would not have been included within the overall results.

Taunt, Murphy and mechanics Gordon Guest and Luke Perry arrived in Barbados to compete in the high-profile Caribbean event alongside an entry of 90 other competitors, with the girls the only all-female crew in the rally.

They set some blistering times in the LIME King of the Hill, which took place the weekend before the main event.

The King of the Hill is a timed event which puts the teams into their seeded order ready for the rally the following weekend.

The duo seeded themselves midfield in the highly-competitive event, with the girls happy with their day’s results and ready for the main rally to begin.

The rally started on the Friday evening with two stages around Bushy Park, with Taunt finishing well off the pace.

However, as the stages were short the team were happy to push forward on Saturday morning when the real stages began.

The following day the tarmac stages were tricky but fast and Taunt came unstuck.

She entered a square right turn after a fast straight and collided with a bank side-on, which caused major damage to rear wheel and left two lower arms bent as well as damage to the rear suspension.

Taunt said: “We were obviously absolutely gutted. In the 20 years I have been rallying it’s the first time we have had to retire from an event through driver error.

“We were on it, we had a fairly bad run the night before and had to catch up, so were pushing very hard. We had gained 20 places on the two previous morning stages, so we weren’t hanging around.”

Co-driver Murphy added: “This was an amazing event and one we will hopefully be returning to next year.”