For the third time in a row, David Higgins has taken the Rally America Driver’s Title and once again, Subaru has won the Rally America Manufaturer’s Championship.
The video below shows the Subaru crew on a few legs of the rally run, finishing with David Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew (the one calling the terrain in the voice over), both of whom were crowned the 2013 Rally America National Champions at the Lake Superior Performance Rally, which was the final round of the 2013 Rally America season.
Higgins was in heavy competition with Ken Block, who may have taken the championship had he finished this race with a win. Higgins pulled ahead about halfway through the race, however, and a rollover took Block out of the running altogether, though no one was hurt.
“It was the fastest that we have ever gone,” exclaimed Higgins at the podium. “Our Subaru has just been brilliant again. We’ve enjoyed this weekend and that was really the biggest, most important factor. Sure there was a lot of pressure, but we really went out there to have fun. Rally is a team sport and I’m so proud of the one we have behind us in Vermont SportsCar and Subaru of America. I’m so happy Craig (Drew) and I could step up our game to deliver for the team.”
The Lake Superior Performance Rally has been running for over thirty years and although the course has changed the challenge has not. The event is widely regarded as the ‘oldest, toughest and meanest rally’ on the Rally America circuit. Held in far northern reaches of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the event features highly variable weather with technical tree-lined gravel roads. This year’s event featured some slick wet roads as well as some drying roads with better grip on the final day. Higgins and Drew had the best tool for the job; their Vermont SportsCar prepared 2013 Subaru WRX STI rally car.
Second and third at the rally were taken by Antoine L’Estage and Dillon Van Way, other Subaru teams in the race, meaning the manufacturer took the entire podium, securing the Rally America Manufacturer’s Championship title.
http://youtu.be/gRaxVcIwv2o
