Irish crew Brian O'Mahony and John Higgins will be back in action in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship next weekend when they contest round two, the
Jim Clark International Rally.
County Cork driver O'Mahony and County Mayo co-driver Higgins are aiming for a class win as they return to the wheel of their OM Concrete Products and Tom Hogan Motors-backed Super 1600 Renault Clio, run by O'Leary Motorsport, for the 160-mile Scottish Borders-based tarmac event.
They finished the opening round of the BRC, the Pirelli International Rally, last month under SupeRally rules after suspension failure meant they couldn't finish the rally competitively and managed to collect some points in the class R3 table.
As they head into the Jim Clark looking to make amends after the disappointment of the first round they will have to bear in mind that the event has not been kind to them in previous years. They have started the rally three times but have never finished after retiring on the same stage - Blackadder - every year.
The event also comes at a busy time for O'Mahony as the university student will be in the middle of his exams, but nevertheless the pair are looking forward to making a return to the asphalt as they bid to gain more points in the BRC.
"Our target will be to get a class win but to go for a good overall position too," 23-year-old O'Mahony said. "Kris Meeke highlighted what the car is capable of in Killarney a couple of weeks ago, so I'll have no excuses.
"I've done the rally three times and retired on the same stage every year, Blackadder! Hopefully we will avoid its curse this year and make it fourth time lucky for a finish.
"The stages are lovely. I really enjoy the rally and can't wait to get back to competing on tarmac again. It will be a fairly hectic few days for me though as it's in the middle of my exams.
"I'll be going straight from an exam to the airport and then I've another exam the Monday after the rally, it means I won't have time to test but I'm feeling positive ahead of the weekend."
