HIGGINS DEFLATED BUT STILL CONFIDENT
Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship leader David Higgins is happy with his current position in this years championship. Despite loosing his lead in the International Rally of Wales on the final day through punctures, his third place finish ensures he maintains his lead in the series heading to round three, The Scottish Rally on 11th/12th June.Driving the SGP Hyundai Accent World Rally Car for a second time following his first round victory on the Pirelli International Rally and a previous winner of the Rally of Wales, the Mid Wales driver felt a Welsh win was possible before the start in Dolgellau. Higgins finished the first stage just one tenth of a second off the top spot and inherited the lead on stage two and remained there for the duration of the first day despite some minor problems."Rally was hard on the first day in the dust and as a result of that I overheated the front brakes, this gave us big problems on the last stage of the day as we had no front brakes at all for the whole stage."Finishing the last stage with no brakes took some driving and to claim second fastest time on the same stage also took some courage. Higgins and his co-driver, Craig Thorley were very happy to hold a sixteen second lead going into the last day. It meant the rallying duo would have a clear road ahead of them at the start of second day.
A puncture on the first stage of the morning cost the pair over one and a half minutes, dropping them to third place. A fifteen second gap stood in the way of second place man, Austin MacHale, which was reduced by six seconds on the next stage and David tried hard on the final stage, but another puncture four miles from the end of the stage put an end to any chances of second spot.David now plans to continue with the series and head to Scotland for the third round qualifier, but hopes the Scottish organisers take on board lessons learned from the Welsh event."If the dust is a problem in Scotland, the organisers should extend the start times by one minute. At present we start at minute intervals, but this does not allow the dust to clear enough. Two minute gaps would keep the competition fair for everyone and make sense for safety reasons."
David & Craig are supported in their BRC campaign by Pirelli, Truck Care, Evans Windows, Vodka Kick, Barretts, Forest Experience Rally School, Barrier Surveillance, Motorsport Travel and Castrol.
