World Rally Car for Higgins

Three-times British Rally Champion, Mark Higgins, will drive a Ford Focus WRC car on Britain's round of the FIA World Rally Championship when Wales Rally GB takes place in early December.

Driving the Ford Focus WRC 05 normally driven by former National champion Steve Perez, the Manxman will be in with a shout of major honours on the three-day event which gets underway at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on December 1.

The 35 year-old wrapped up the 2006 British Championship on the previous round, meaning he is free to contest Britain's biggest motorsport event in a state-of-the-art world championship car and Perez duly obliged, much to Higgins' delight.

"I'm absolutely delighted that Steve has offered me his car and I'm not planning on wasting the opportunity, that is for sure," said Higgins prior to jetting out to Australia.

"It will be great for the fans to have a couple of us Brits in with a shout of doing well and it could well be a throwback to the good old days when Colin McRae and the late Richard Burns were up at the front. I see no reason why we can't be challenging but as anyone knows, you need an awful lot of luck as much as anything on Rally GB, but at least I have the tools to do a good job. It's down to me now and I'm relishing the chance."

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