David targets Asia Cup drive

David Higgins is aiming to build on his success in the Chinese Rally Championship by putting together a deal to contest the Asia Cup alongside it in 2010.

Higgins has already committed to the 2010 Chinese Rally Championship, continuing to drive a Mitsubishi for the WY Rally Team. Adding the challenge for the Asia Cup to his calendar would only mean two or three extra events.

"The Asia Cup is made up of three rounds of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship," said Higgins. "That already includes the Longyou Rally which we do as part of the Chinese series, so I am looking into finding the funds to contest events in Malaysia, Indonesia or Japan so we can go for the Cup."

In recent years Higgins has taken a record breaking number of wins in China, and proved himself a worthy adversary for competitors in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship.

"It's always very competitive on the events in China," said Higgins. "But when the APRC drivers join in the fray, it gets even more competitive. And that's the event we all love, because it gives you the chance to show what you can really do. We have always had great success on those events, mainly battling with multiple APRC champion Cody Crocker who we have beaten in the past, so it makes sense to build on that with the Asia Cup."

The 2010 Asia Cup kicks off with the Malaysian Rally on April 24/25.

Disappointment for Higgins in China

Chinese Rally Championship frontrunner David Higgins was left devastated today when he was stripped of his Longyou Rally points win.

Although Higgins and co-driver Ieuan Thomas finished the event second overall behind APRC driver Cody Crocker, they picked up top points in the Chinese Rally Championship section - but on the way back to service they encountered problems.

"We had lost 45 seconds with a spin on the first day, so to take top points was great," said Higgins. "But then we encountered fuel pressure problems on the way back to service. A crew car came out to try to help us thinking we were out of the rally, but our car slowed down as the crew car got near us, and the crew car ran into the back of us very hard. We were only about 500 metres away from the service park when it happened."

A rival team then put in a protest because a crew car had been seen so close to Higgins and Thomas. As a result of the protest the pair were excluded from the rally.

Had David's win stood, he would have won the team championship title for the WY rally team. Now the team title will go down to the wire on the final round in China in December.

Longyou Rally China update after Saturday's stages

At the end of the first full day's rallying in China, David and Ieuan are leading the Chinese Rally Championship runners by 43 seconds ahead of Dean Herridge, despite losing 43 seconds with a spin in the penultimate stage of the day.

Overall, the crew are lying second in the rally behind Asia Pacific Rally Championship contender Cody Crocker.

David reports a very good day - but a very long one, having rallied for over two hours in one day.

More news tomorrow.

Longyou Rally China update after super special

After the opening super special stage, David and Ieuan are leading the race for victory in the Chinese Rally Championship section of the event, and are lying third overall.

David says they are running further back on the road than usual, due to the event also being a round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship. They are running behind that championship's lead drivers, so the roads are badly cut up by the time they go through in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9.

More news tomorrow.

Longyou Rally China day two recce update

David says their second recce day went very well today - but it was an early start with proceedings kicking off at 5am. Although it went well, he reports that the stages are not in great condition, left very muddy or with some surface washed away following the hard rain which has fallen in the region over the last two days.

The crew had another small test after the recce finished and are pleased they have sorted any outstanding issues with their Mitsubishi Lancer E9 ahead of the rally start.

There is a shakedown today, which actually takes place on what will be the first stage of the rally tomorrow, but David and Ieuan are forced to miss it because of the test they did yesterday. This may put them at a slight disadvantage through the opening stage tomorrow.

Either way, David thinks the event will be so tough that someone could win it without setting any top times, so it sounds like it will be a testing weekend for the boys in China.

Longyou Rally China day one recce update

News has just come in that the team have finished the first of their two day recce for the event. David has said that the stages are very narrow and the fog was thick during their runs through the stages.

They will recce again tomorrow.

Longyou Rally China testing update

David and Ieuan spent yesterday testing their Mitsubishi Lancer E9 amid huge downpours in China.

The crew say they had a great test, but the rain made it hard to get the tyres working properly. Trying new dampers, the WY rally team managed to get the car working well towards the end of the test before the road was washed away with heavy rain. This left the team with no option but to find a new venue and start again - making it a very long day.

With this being David's first gravel event since April, he used the test car to get in as much mileage as possible ahead of this weekend's rally.

The team have now gone to start the first day's recce.