Huairou Rally preview

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.