THIS weekend’s Top Gear Festival Barbados scheduled for Bushy Park race track could see Jamaica’s Douglas Gore in his Audi TT-R DTM competing against 2008 Formula One World Champion and current F1 points leader Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton will be driving an older-model Mercedes-Benz F1 car as part of Sunday’s Ultimate Showdown where two or more cars in a specific category participate in a three-lap race against Hamilton. Before that, Gore will have to battle against another seven cars, including past rivals Mark and Douglas Maloney, in the Local Heroes showdown. The winner of that race will move on to the Ultimate Showdown.

“I’ll be racing against four local drivers and three out of the UK,” Gore said.

Gore, the current Caribbean Motor Racing Champion, is bullish on his chances to make it to the Ultimate Showdown. For that event, there will be a time-based staggered start to give all the entrants a shot at victory against the Formula One car.

“We start testing Friday. The track is amazing and I think it suits the Audi perfectly, so yes, my chances for victory are good,” he explained.

The festival, based on the hit BBC automotive TV show Top Gear, has been a coup for Barbados as this is its first visit ever to the Americas.

“The cars here are unreal and I’m surprised at the amount of people that actually know me,” Gore said.

— Rory Daley