Well Done Barratts Motorsport (NetworkQ)
28 November 2001 | 02:46 PM
#1
Well done to Barratts Motorsport and Barratts Subaru of Canterbury on bringing David Higgins home 1st in the Grp'N' battle on the Network Q.
Again...well done to Phil Venn and all the guys at Barratt's.
See Below for Press Release....
David Higgins driving the Barretts Subaru Gp N Impreza won the Group N category and finished an impressive 11th overall on the Cardiff based Network Q Rally of Great Britain, the final round of the World Rally Championship.
After an enthralling 3 day battle over 17 special stages and 400km of competitive distance, David Higgins and his Co Driver Craig Thorley finished 3 seconds clear of Peruvian Ramon Ferreyros. This result breaks the domination of the Production car category by Mitsubishi who have won Gp N on all rounds of the World Championship for the past 2 years.
Now this is no small achievement as, becauase added to the might of the Mitsubishi's in Group N, David also had to start day 1 (Leg 1) of the rally on Friday some 25 places further down the starting order than his principal rivals Ramon Ferreyros and Swedish driver Kenneth Backlund, because of the low seeding the British driver had been given for the world championship event.
Running so far back the stage surface conditions were not as good for Higgins due to ruts created by the passage of the preceding cars, worsened by the FWD Super 1600 cars infront of him which typically throw a lot of dirt around as they scrabble for grip. It also meant he had to complete the final test of the day in fog which came down after his rivals had all ready completed the stage.
At the end of day 1 Higgins was lying 3rd in class some 50 seconds behind Ferreyros and 30 seconds behind Backlund. As per the regulations, the competitors were re seeded in there result order of the first day, which enabled Higgins to start right behind his two rivals on the second leg of the rally. This would enable Higgins to compete on equal terms.
After 3 stages on day 2 Higgins closed the gap to the class leader Ferreyros to under 30 seconds. With 2 more stages on day 2 to complete, Higgins was confident he could make up the deficit and move into the lead. However to a serious incident involving Ford Works Team driver Carlos Sainz and spectators, these stages were cancelled, and the opportunity was to close the gap was lost.
Higgins started the 3rd day of the event needing to drive absolutely flat out over the final 100-km of competitive distance remaining. There were 4 special stages to complete in leg 3. After the first 2 stages in very heavy rain, which made the stages treacherously slippery and low cloud reducing visibility, Higgins was significantly quicker than his competition and moved into 2nd place passing Backlund and closed up to within 8 seconds of Ferreyros’s lead.
On the penultimate stage David stormed through gravel roads to complete the stage just under 9 seconds quicker than his rival to take the Gp N lead. He started the final stage, Margam Park 2 with a 0.7-second lead and drove at maximum pace to go 2 seconds faster than Ferreyros and win the class by 2.7 seconds.
An elated Higgins said: “ I am absolutely delighted with the result. The car and team have been fantastic all rally. I really wanted this result and I knew we could do it. I really enjoyed the close competition with Ramon, and to take all the quickest stage times in Gp N after leg 1 feels great.”
Paul Barrett, of Barretts Motorsport, was full of praise for Higgins’s efforts. “ Having worked with David for 5 years now I never doubted David’s ability to win this rally, but it’s a very tough event and it’s not an easy rally to finish. To drive flat out like David has done under considerable pressure and come out on top is a fantastic achievement”.
It was great to see David put in such a good performance, with his excellent performance on the Network Q, his great drives for the Itera team in Russia, and some great drives for Volkswagen in their Polo Super 1600 in the Formula Rally championship, that he is a driver with exceptional ability, and great potential. With more outing's in America planned and a lot of offers coming his way for 2002 expect to be seeing a lot more of David Higgins.
The guys on the Barretts Motorsport team also deserve a big pat on the back, they did an excellent job keeping David going when many others were falling by the wayside.
Again...well done to Phil Venn and all the guys at Barratt's.
See Below for Press Release....
David Higgins driving the Barretts Subaru Gp N Impreza won the Group N category and finished an impressive 11th overall on the Cardiff based Network Q Rally of Great Britain, the final round of the World Rally Championship.
After an enthralling 3 day battle over 17 special stages and 400km of competitive distance, David Higgins and his Co Driver Craig Thorley finished 3 seconds clear of Peruvian Ramon Ferreyros. This result breaks the domination of the Production car category by Mitsubishi who have won Gp N on all rounds of the World Championship for the past 2 years.
Now this is no small achievement as, becauase added to the might of the Mitsubishi's in Group N, David also had to start day 1 (Leg 1) of the rally on Friday some 25 places further down the starting order than his principal rivals Ramon Ferreyros and Swedish driver Kenneth Backlund, because of the low seeding the British driver had been given for the world championship event.
Running so far back the stage surface conditions were not as good for Higgins due to ruts created by the passage of the preceding cars, worsened by the FWD Super 1600 cars infront of him which typically throw a lot of dirt around as they scrabble for grip. It also meant he had to complete the final test of the day in fog which came down after his rivals had all ready completed the stage.
At the end of day 1 Higgins was lying 3rd in class some 50 seconds behind Ferreyros and 30 seconds behind Backlund. As per the regulations, the competitors were re seeded in there result order of the first day, which enabled Higgins to start right behind his two rivals on the second leg of the rally. This would enable Higgins to compete on equal terms.
After 3 stages on day 2 Higgins closed the gap to the class leader Ferreyros to under 30 seconds. With 2 more stages on day 2 to complete, Higgins was confident he could make up the deficit and move into the lead. However to a serious incident involving Ford Works Team driver Carlos Sainz and spectators, these stages were cancelled, and the opportunity was to close the gap was lost.
Higgins started the 3rd day of the event needing to drive absolutely flat out over the final 100-km of competitive distance remaining. There were 4 special stages to complete in leg 3. After the first 2 stages in very heavy rain, which made the stages treacherously slippery and low cloud reducing visibility, Higgins was significantly quicker than his competition and moved into 2nd place passing Backlund and closed up to within 8 seconds of Ferreyros’s lead.
On the penultimate stage David stormed through gravel roads to complete the stage just under 9 seconds quicker than his rival to take the Gp N lead. He started the final stage, Margam Park 2 with a 0.7-second lead and drove at maximum pace to go 2 seconds faster than Ferreyros and win the class by 2.7 seconds.
An elated Higgins said: “ I am absolutely delighted with the result. The car and team have been fantastic all rally. I really wanted this result and I knew we could do it. I really enjoyed the close competition with Ramon, and to take all the quickest stage times in Gp N after leg 1 feels great.”
Paul Barrett, of Barretts Motorsport, was full of praise for Higgins’s efforts. “ Having worked with David for 5 years now I never doubted David’s ability to win this rally, but it’s a very tough event and it’s not an easy rally to finish. To drive flat out like David has done under considerable pressure and come out on top is a fantastic achievement”.
It was great to see David put in such a good performance, with his excellent performance on the Network Q, his great drives for the Itera team in Russia, and some great drives for Volkswagen in their Polo Super 1600 in the Formula Rally championship, that he is a driver with exceptional ability, and great potential. With more outing's in America planned and a lot of offers coming his way for 2002 expect to be seeing a lot more of David Higgins.
The guys on the Barretts Motorsport team also deserve a big pat on the back, they did an excellent job keeping David going when many others were falling by the wayside.
28 November 2001 | 02:53 PM
#2
Scooby Regular
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 704
Likes: 0
From: Brisbane, Oz
Hmmm,
Funny that. The battle described sounds so much more interesting than the one played out in the 'main' race, but was there any coverage at all on the tele ?
Nope, didn't think so [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]
So much for encouraging the little guy ...
Andrew.
Funny that. The battle described sounds so much more interesting than the one played out in the 'main' race, but was there any coverage at all on the tele ?
Nope, didn't think so [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]
So much for encouraging the little guy ...
Andrew.
28 November 2001 | 05:24 PM
#3
Scooby Regular
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 622
Likes: 0
I was lucky enough to get a ride in the Barretts Subaru with Dave Higgins last year and all i can say is that i'm not in the least bit surprised how well he did!
Total eye opener, the car control these guys have is absolutely AWESOME...! The first lap round the test track (challock woods
) was terrifying, then as the confidence kicked in, just incredible!
What the WRC cars must be like doesn't bare thinking about! Think they should dump Toshi Arai and Give Dave a season in one!
Rus
Total eye opener, the car control these guys have is absolutely AWESOME...! The first lap round the test track (challock woods
) was terrifying, then as the confidence kicked in, just incredible!What the WRC cars must be like doesn't bare thinking about! Think they should dump Toshi Arai and Give Dave a season in one!
Rus
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