by Rob Wilkins


TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH MARK HIGGINS: CLICK HERE


Mark Higgins inked a deal recently that will see him re-join the Atlas TEG Sport Rally Team for the remainder of the season and take in all the rounds in the 2008 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship. Crash.net Radio caught up with the three time BRC champion to get the details...


Crash.net:
Mark, congratulations you are going to be rejoining TEG Sport. How did that opportunity come about?

Mark Higgins:
We have been speaking for a long time. We obviously had a good relationship last year but I actually made an early commitment to the Irish championship and so it wasn't possible to do the full BRC this year. However things have changed a little bit and an opportunity has arisen and now we have got the chance to drive the Subaru for the remainder of the British championship.

Crash.net:
What do you hope to achieve in the BRC?

MH:
We want to try and do as well as we can. 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.

Crash.net:
Will you switch to using the new Impreza N14 later on this year?

MH:
That is possible. I think we will make a decision once we know how competitive it is and once we know it is fully reliable. I know Stuart [Newby] at TEG wants to make sure the car is completely ready and hopefully when it is ready we will use it - maybe for the Wales Rally GB or the Trackrod.

Crash.net:
How are you doing to approach the Jim Clark International Rally?

MH:
It 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 good event and we should be in for a good fight. It would have been interesting to have been in the Super 2000 car on tarmac because I think that would have been very, very competitive. But we have also got some outings planned in that later on in the year as well.

Crash.net:
Of course you won the Jim Clark Rally last year - do you think you can do it again?

MH:
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. 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.

Crash.net:
Looking back on the first round in the BRC, where you used an MG S2000 Sport, what did you make of that car?

MH:
It was absolutely fantastic. It was really good fun to drive and you had to drive it absolutely on the door handles. We were improving it all the time and it was just a big blow for the whole team what actually happened. We haven't quite got down to the bottom of it. The team did a great job in preparing the car though and running it and I did enjoy the rally. I was happy to be where I was and I didn't expect to go there and be competitive on that type of rally, which is so fast. It doesn't really suit that type of car. But we were right up there and as I say we were really enjoying it. We hope to be out in that car later on this year and try it on tarmac.

Crash.net:
The Pirelli looked very promising - didn't it, because you were on course for a podium?

MH:
Yeah, I think that was better than we actually hoped. We did the Border Counties Rally and one of the problems we had there was that we were on the organisers pace-notes. With the little Super 2000 car you have to be 110 per cent committed and if you haven't had a recce it is very hard to do that. As soon as we went to the Pirelli I think we were second quickest on the first stage and we had a good run.

Crash.net:
Have you got any regrets that you won't be continuing with the MG in the BRC?

MH: