by Rob Wilkins
Three time British Rally champion Mark Higgins has conceded that it will be tough for him to win the
Jim Clark International Rally again this weekend.
Higgins, who recently signed a deal to re-join the Atlas TEG Sport Rally Team, took one of his two only wins in the BRC last year on the Kelso-based event, but only after Guy Wilks went out in the final stage on the Saturday and threw away a 20-odd second lead.
Speaking exclusively to
Crash.net Radio ahead of this weekend's event, the second round in the 2008 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, Mark added that the Mitsubishis still have the edge.
"We want to try and do as well as we can," he noted. "The only unfortunate thing is that the Mitsubishi is very, very strong at the moment.
"But we have got a very good reliable package and the car is competitive. It is not the latest Subaru - although on the plus side at least we know it inside and out. Hopefully reliability will play a very strong part in deciding the championship
"The Jim Clark Rally [this coming weekend] has been a good rally for me before. It is a very, very high speed, fast rally. But weather changes can make it very tricky if you are on the wrong tyres. I do enjoy though. It is a top event and we should be in for a good fight."
So can he win it again like he did last year?
"It will be difficult. We won it really last year because Guy [Wilks] went off. We were having quite a good dice. But we have always been just that little bit off the pace of the Mitsubishis," he added.
"We proved that last year when we went to the Rally GB in the same car and we were having a real good ding-dong battle - second for second.
"We have however made some improvements to the car. We think this car is stronger on the current fuel than maybe what the Mitsubishi is. We have actually gained, where they have maybe lost.
"It will be close and you never know in rallying."
TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH MARK HIGGINS: CLICK HERE
