Mark Higgins took the victory on the
Jim Clark Memorial Rally Saturday, round four of the 2005 Kwik Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship, although it was a nail-biting finish, after he struggled to get off the start line on the final stage.
"I thought it was all over," Higgins told the official BRC website, "just off the start line of the final stage, the car wouldn't pull!
"The throttle was dead and there was no ALS [anti-lag system], there was just no response from the throttle out of corners. I lost a lot of time in that stage and at the finish I just wasn't sure if we had done enough to win."
In the end Higgins beat Tim McNulty by 37.6 seconds, to take his third win on the trot and the lead in the championship for the first time this season. Prior to the event, Austin MacHale had been leading, but he mechanical problems Saturday afternoon and was forced out while holding sixth place overall.
At the finish, Higgins, who won the BRC title in 1997, paid tribute to the competition: "I've had a great race with the boys, it's been a fight all the way."
McNulty echoed the same sentiment, although he did well just to complete the event after being plagued with a severe bout of food poisoning all weekend.
"I'm just absolutely delighted," he reflected at the finish. "I've had a good race with Mark. He's such a professional, and so are the others. It's been a great race."
In third place came Eugene Donnelly, while Eamonn Boland took fourth, even though he and Derek McGarrity, who was fifth, ended the event with exactly the same total time.
UK Mitsubishi works driver Rory Galligan took the Production win after finishing sixth overall - he enjoyed a close battle with Philip Morrow, Gary Jennings, Alan Nesbitt and Ryan Champion throughout the 21 stage event. Morrow however was forced out of the battle on the 19th stage when the engine in his Mitsubishi Lancer expired.
