Shanghai Rally: end of leg one

David and Ieuan have got their 2008 Chinese Rally Championship campaign off to a great start on the Shanghai Rally. They lead overnight, having won every stage bar one today.

More news after the rally finishes tomorrow.

Read David's third column on crash.net

David's third column for crash.net went online today

To read the column click here

Ken Leece

David has been paying tribute to his grandfather, Ken Leece, who passed away today.
“It was my grandfather who got the family involved in motorsport,” said David. “On Sunday I took the lead in the British championship, my brother Mark won the rally, and Lewis Hamilton won the Grand Prix in Monaco – my grandfather would have been very proud of all of that. He always kept a keen eye on what was going on in the world of motorsport.”
Mr Leece actively encouraged David’s mother and father to participate in the sport, and then David and Mark when they followed in their footsteps.
With this in mind, David’s grandmother and the rest of his family have all encouraged him to continue with his plans to go to China today for the Shanghai Rally, because it is what his grandfather would have wanted.
Mr Leece will be sadly missed.

David chews his way to the championship lead!

David Higgins has left the Jim Clark International Rally leading the British Rally Championship points, after he chewed a block of wood to fill a hole in his Subaru’s radiator to make sure they made it through the event.

The hole appeared after a run through the second Langton stage on Saturday, most likely caused when the Subaru Impreza N14 landed after a large jump.

“We lost all of the water out of the radiator,” said David. “But you’ve got to keep pushing, so we got to the start of the next stage, found a bit of wood and I chewed it to the right size to block the hole. We filled up the radiator, used a pair of gloves to keep the wood in place, cable tied them down and managed to get the car to service. In situations like that you just can’t give up.”

David and his co-driver Ieuan Thomas finished leg one on Saturday lying second overall behind David’s older brother Mark. They kept that position until the very last stage of the rally when gearbox problems allowed Stuart Jones to get past.

“We lost over a minute in the last stage,” said Manxman David. “After a good battle with Stuart throughout the day, that finally let him get past. It’s disappointing not to get second after lying second for so long during the event, but we took another podium finish for FX Motor Sports and we’ve taken the championship lead. The next round is Rally Isle of Man so it’s especially good to be going to my home event leading the championship points.”

David’s TQ.com team mates Hugh Evans and Iestyn Williams finished 13th in the BRC section of the event in their Subaru Impreza N14, taking another good set of points for the team. The result leaves team TQ.com second in the teams championship.

David and Ieuan had to make a quick exit from the finish ramp because they leave for China tomorrow morning to start their attack on the 2008 Chinese Rally Championship. Having become the first crew to win every round in one season last year, all eyes will be on them as they prepare for the Shanghai Rally this weekend.

“The stages don’t look very challenging in Shanghai, but that’s often the way if a rally is close to a big city in the Chinese championship,” said David. “But we can’t wait to get back onto the Chinese stages, and the rally is asphalt, so going straight there from the Jim Clark will be a benefit.”

Jim Clark International Rally: end of leg two

David and Ieuan have finished the Jim Clark in third place in the British Rally Championship section of the event.

Having maintained second all day, they lost out to Stuart Jones in the final stage when they lost over a minute in the stage with gearbox problems.

Their TQ.com team mates Hugh and Iestyn finished 13th in the BRC points, taking another good points haul for the team.

More news tonight...

Jim Clark International Rally: end of leg one

David Higgins and Ieuan Thomas have finished the first leg of the Jim Clark International Rally lying second overall in the British Rally Championship points.

While David felt the Subaru Impreza N14 was not handling well at the start of the event, it felt better as the day went on, although they feel there isn't enough power at times. They currently lie second behind David's older brother Mark, with Welshman Stuart Jones close behind in third.

There was drama in stage four when the crew stopped to help Guy Wilks and Phil Pugh extinguish a fire in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9. The fire ended Guy's rally.

And it was quick thinking that helped get the crew through the day after they got a hole in the radiator during a run through Langton. They got to the start of the next stage, where David chewed a piece of wood down to the right size to plug the hole, covered it with some gloves, cable tied it off and drove on. They're not sure how the hole happened, most likely when they landed after a jump.

Their TQ.com team mates Hugh Evans and Iestyn Williams currently lie 12th in the BRC points.

The action gets underway again tomorrow morning at 08.30. More news tomorrow night.

Ready for the start ramp

With the recce of the Jim Clark rally complete, the FX Motor Sports crews are ready to go, and can be found in the following places in the international rally line up:

11 David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas Subaru Impreza
28 Hugh Evans/Iestyn Willians Subaru Impreza
56 Nick Rowland/Tim Sturla Suzuki Swift

More news when the rally gets under way.

FX Motor Sports prepare for Scotland

The FX Motor Sports squad has made a successful start to their asphalt plans for their Subaru Impreza N14s in this year’s British Rally Championship with a day’s testing at Bala.

David Higgins and Nick Rowland took part in the test in preparation for an attack on the Jim Clark Rally on May 23-25, David in his Subaru Impreza N14 and Nick in his Suzuki Swift. With FX boss Hugh Evans unable to attend the test, David will apply the same improvements to his car as he does his own.

“The car was on the pace straight away and got better throughout the test,” said David. “It got easier to drive, and we did a lot of work to get unnecessary weight out of the car. Some things look great, but they’re heavy and not essential so they’ve gone.

“We made a lot of changes during the day, maybe ten spring options and many diff options. We need to get more throttle response, but we’re hoping Prodrive can help with that before the event. We left the test with a lot of data which we will use to develop the car further before the Jim Clark. We hope to have another test, but if that’s not possible we’ll have the pre-event shakedown.”

After Nick took second place on the opening round of the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup on the Pirelli International last month, David was further encouraged by the teenager’s first day out on asphalt.

“It was Nick’s first experience of asphalt,” said David. “A few big moments made him realise how serious it is, but he’s come a long way since his time in the F1000 championship last year. He just needs more confidence and commitment at a higher speed, more trust in his car, and he’ll keep getting podium finishes.”

TQ.com team driver David currently lies third in the BRC points, only four points behind leader Guy Wilks, with six rounds left in the season. TQ.com lie second in the teams championship.

Read David's second column on crash.net

As you know, David is writing a column for crash.net this year as he takes on the British and Chinese rally championships.

David's latest column has gone online today.

To read the column click here