2004 British Rally champion, David Higgins completed a full set of wins in the Chinese Rally Championship by winning the Longyou Rally at the weekend - and not only did he win the CRC section of the event, but he was also the top finisher in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge too.

It was a hard weekend though for Higgins, who was under instructions not to push too hard in order to ensure he got to the finish and picked up enough points to ensure his WY Rally Team took the CRC team title.

“Day one was difficult,” he explained. “For the first time all year our car developed a misfire, losing us time. But the team worked hard in service to change the suspension and turbo and make sure everything worked perfectly on leg two.”

Despite their problems on leg one, Higgins and co-driver, Ieuan Thomas led the CRC and IRC by 44 seconds overnight.

“Leg two was trouble free. We just concentrated on keeping in front of the IRC and CRC. It would have been nice to try and catch Cody Crocker, who won the event as part of his Asia Pacific Rally Championship campaign, but we lost too much time on the first day - and the team were making me try to ignore his times, although we did beat him on many stages.

“Ieuan has been ill throughout the rally as well which has not been very nice for him. He kept losing his voice but he still managed to get all of the pacenotes out perfectly as usual.”

Higgins is believed to be the first person who has ever won all five rounds of the CRC in a season. Although he has dominated the series this year, he cannot become the Chinese rally champion because he is not Chinese.

“Five wins from five events is fantastic for us and the team. It shows how good the team are all working, and it's great to be part of such a good team,” he added.

“We're just heading to prize giving now, and I'm glad I don't have to rush to the airport on this occasion because I expect it will be a big celebration!”

When Higgins and Thomas return to the UK they will turn their thoughts to Wales Rally GB where they will compete for Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship points in their TQ.com team Subaru Impreza.