David Higgins was on form in Wales Rally GB this weekend as the Welsh-based Manxman stamped his authority on the event which was the final round of the British Rally Championship and the World Rally Championship.

Fresh from success in the China Rally, David and co-driver Ieuan Thomas finished an impressive 18th overall and sixth in class – just 1.8 seconds behind SJR Hankook driver Stuart Jones.

After losing time on the first day and suffering from a stuck throttle on day two, the TQ.com sponsored pair were battling it out at the front of the BRC contenders over some of the toughest forest terrain in the world.

Heavy rain made the tricky Welsh tracks even more difficult that usual but the pair managed to guide their SGP Motorsports Mitsubishi Evo 9 to the finish relatively unscathed.

“It has been a tough few days and having missed the first day of the recce because I was still on the way back from China meant that we had a tough task from the first of the 17 high speed stages,’’ said David.

“But we are delighted to get back to the ramp in Cardiff and finish the season in style against some extremely tough competition.’’

Hankook motorsports manager Mike Patterson said he was delighted with the performance of David and Ieuan both in China and in Wales where they have been using the Hankook tyres.

“We worked with David at Lurgan Park when he drove to a podium place in the Hankook Subaru WRC car and it has been great to get him back into Hankook colours and record such an impressive result,’’ said Mike.