More new mileage for David Higgins in China

Posted: August 23, 2009 2:28 PM - 3395 Hits

More new mileage for David Higgins in China

Posted: August 23, 2009 2:28 PM

David Higgins and Ieuan Thomas have set off on their travels again for the third round of the Chinese Rally Championship, the Fogang Rally.

The event is based in the Guangdong region and is yet another completely new event for the 2009 season.

“From what we have heard it will be a tough rally,” said David. “The stages are either fast, wide and bumpy, or narrow with drops on the side of the road. The plan is to get a good base set-up from the asphalt events we have done before and modify that for the different stages.

“There have been a lot of emails going back and forth between us and the engineers in China, but it's always hard when you've not actually seen the roads. We've always done well before on new events though, and you have to remember that it's a new event for the whole field, not just us.”

David finished second in the opening round of the championship and won round two, which has helped to put the WY Rally Team at the top of the points tables going into round three, joint on points with the KST team.

With crews from all over the globe contesting the Chinese series this year, David and Ieuan will be joined by some more familiar faces on the Fogang.

“My brother Mark is doing the rally for the KST team,” said David. “He's one of the best asphalt drivers in the world, but we will need to take more points than him. There is also a rumour that Nial McShea will be doing the rally for another team in a new Subaru.”

The Fogang Rally takes place on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of August.

David Higgins and Ieuan Thomas - Chinese Rally Championship Round 2

Posted: July 6, 2009 6:42 PM

Just one month on from the opening round of the Chinese Rally Championship, David Higgins and Ieuan Thomas are back in China for round two, the Huairou Rally in Beijing.

Last time out the boys finished second, narrowly missing out on the win when they suffered damper problems on the Jiangning Rally.

“This event is a full asphalt rally which looks quite similar to the 2007 event which we won,” explained David. “The stages are very twisty, but smooth too. I remember that in 2007 there wasn't much grip so it was easy to overheat the tyres if you weren't careful – and this year's event looks set to be even harder because the temperature could be up in the 40s.”

As usual, David and Ieuan have travelled out to China before the event to test their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9 with the WY Rally Team, but this time their test will take place on a kart track because of a lack of closable asphalt roads available in the area.

Unfortunately a change in the initial calendar released for the Chinese championship now means the Huairou Rally takes place on the same weekend as David's home round of the British Rally Championship, Rally Isle of Man.

“Even though we are not doing the BRC any more, it would have been great to have been able to contest Rally Isle of Man which we always enjoy,” said David. “We did make initial sponsorship enquiries to try to put a deal together, but then the Huairou got put back a week to the same weekend.

“I hope we can get back to our winning ways in China now after the damper problems we had last time out. And even though we will be about 5,000 miles away from Rally Isle of Man, we will be keeping an eye on the results to see how my brother Mark and my cousin Andy Leece are getting on.”

The Huairou Rally takes place from July 10th to 12th.

Higgins heads back to China

Posted: June 8, 2009 8:16 PM

After a seven month break between Chinese Rally Championships, David Higgins has returned to the far east to prepare for the season opening Jiangning Rally.

It has been three months since David and his co-driver Ieuan Thomas competed together, on the Bulldog Historic Rally in a Ford Escort Mk1. A pre-event accident where a piece of metal pierced through David’s hand, and work commitments at the family rally school, ruled them out of the Pirelli Historic which they had been due to enter next.

“It will be great to get back into a rally car after so long and fantastic to finally get back out on the stages in China after the huge break between championships out there,” said David. “As usual with China, we will have a hefty test of the Mitsubishi Lancer E9 before the rally when we get out there with the team, and we are with the WY rally team again this year so we all know each other and work together well.”

David and Ieuan remain a force to be reckoned with in the championship having won a record number of events over the last two seasons. But this month the Jiangning Rally will be a new test for everyone involved.

“The Jiangning Rally is a new event for all of us in the Chinese championship,” added David. “That’s always a good leveller across the field, we have no idea what it will be like apart from knowing there will be six stages and a super special on Friday, six stages on Saturday and four stages on Sunday. I like the challenges doing a totally new event in a championship bring with it and that’s important to the competitors to keep the championship refreshed and more interesting. One challenge that I’m not looking forward to though is the heat, it’s already 38 degrees out in that area of China and could get even hotter. That could make things very difficult – especially for two guys who are more used to the weather we get on Rally GB in Wales.”

Although David has not been competing in a rally car recently, he has completed a few kart races, having always been a promoter of kart racing as a way to hone your skills for rallying between events, and an enthusiast kart competitor since his early childhood on the Isle of Man.

The Jingnang Rally takes place from Friday 12th June until Sunday 14th June, based in Jiangsu.

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More new mileage for David Higgins in China