Former British Rally Champion David Higgins has announced plans to contest the Dunlop/Gambia MSA British  Historic Rally Championship in a Ford Escort, starting with the Bulldog Historic Rally on 28 March.Higgins plans to contest six of the season's eight events, but will miss the Severn Valley Stages in May and  the Tour of Flanders in September due to clashes with his programme in China with a Group N Mitsubishi.The 2004 British Rally champion will compete in a car from Mark Solloway's Historic Rallysport concern and  will tackle the Bulldog in a Mk1 Escort. "I've got 95% of the budget we need and Mark produces a fantastic car, so I gave him a ring to see if he was  up for it," said Higgins. He will be joined on the Bulldog by his 2008 team mate Hugh Evans, who will contest  at least the season opener in one of Solloway's Mk2 Escorts."I'm really excited about it," said Higgins as he looked forward to the Welsh event. "The competition in  historics is very strong and the cars are brilliant fun to drive. You get such a buzz out of driving these cars."