Triple British Rally Champion Mark Higgins will race in at least the opening two rounds of the Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship with Albatec Racing, it was announced at the Autosport International Show on Thursday. 

Higgins will race the Peugeot 208 Supercar that is being run this season as a collaborative partnership between Albatec and the National Centre for Motorsport Engineering (NCME), that aims to provide career development opportunities for the next generation of motorsport engineers. 

Silverstone will host the opening round of British RX for the very first time on March 17, where Higgins will make his Supercar debut, having previously raced in the RX150 buggy single-make support category. The Powys-based Manxman has also been confirmed for the second round at Lydden Hill, and is targeting a full season with the team. 

“This is a really great opportunity and one that I’m very excited about. Albatec is a great team, probably the premier team in the UK with a proven, successful car and at this stage in my life I’ve learnt there’s only one way to do something, and that’s properly,” said Higgins. “Having the NCME at University of Bolton on board is great, the entire project just seemed to tick all the right boxes. I’ve spent a lot of time testing cars for manufacturers, and working with the students to develop the Peugeot is one of the elements I’m looking forward to the most. I’ve really missed rallying in Britain, so I’m very pleased to be competing in the UK again in an environment where hopefully a lot of people can support us. The competition is fierce in British RX, they go in pretty hard, and I’m not going into it too confidently, but I’m certainly not going there just to make up the numbers.” 

British RX event winner Andy Scott will continue to oversee his Albatec Racing team in 2018, and is excited to have Higgins involved. “Mark comes with a fantastic pedigree so there is no doubt about his ability and speed. It’s particularly good to bring him into the British Rallycross Championship which is steadily increasing in stature, in parallel with the FIA and European World Rallycross Championships. We have managed to secure the budget for Mark to contest the opening two rounds of British RX, and are currently working hard to ensure he can complete the entire season.”

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