TQ.com's David Higgins left the
Jim Clark International Rally on Sunday, the second round in the 2008 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, at the top of the championship standings.
Higgins ran strongly from the start in his FX Motor Sports-run Subaru Impreza N14, moving up to second in the BRC on SS4, when early leader and reigning champion Guy Wilks went out.
In SS8, the second run through the Langton stage though, David hit problems, when he damaged the radiator on his N14 following a big jump. A bit of quick thinking from the 35-year-old however and a bit of ingenuity saw him sort a temporary fix and he continued on his way.
"We lost all of the water out of the radiator. But you've got to keep pushing, so we got to the start of the next stage, found a bit of wood and I chewed it to the right size to block the hole," explained the
Crash.net columnist.
"We filled up the radiator, got a pair of gloves to keep the wood in place, cable tied it down and managed to get the car to service. In situations like that you just can't give up."
In the end David finished leg one still in second behind his older brother Mark and he then kept that position right until the very last test on Sunday, when gearbox problems allowed Stuart Jones to get past in his MG S2000.
"We lost over a minute in the last stage and after a good battle with Stuart throughout the day that finally let him get past," added David.
"It's disappointing not to get the runners-up spot after lying second for so long during the event, but we took another podium finish for FX Motor Sports and we've taken the championship lead. The next round is Rally Isle of Man now so it's especially good to be going to my home event leading the championship points."
David's TQ.com team-mate Hugh Evans meanwhile finished 13th in the BRC section of the event, taking another good set of points for the team. The result leaves Team TQ.com second in the teams' championship, just 3 points behind the Atlas TEG Sport squad.
