Dumfries and Galloway based Albatec Racing NCME and Mark Higgins opened their Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship account with an impressive performance and a points-scoring finish in the season-opener at Silverstone on Saturday 17th of March 2018. Making his Supercar debut at a bitterly cold and slippery Northamptonshire track, Mark powered his Eddie Stobart supported Peugeot 208 RX Supercar to the fifth fastest overall time to easily qualify for the Final and was heading for a top four finish until a broken driveshaft ended his charge. He managed to limp to the finish, albeit a lap behind, and was classified seventh.
There was disappointment for Andy Scott even before the event started; the double British Vice-Champion forced to withdraw with technical issues on the second Motis, Rock Oil and Teng Tools-supported 208. His development engine suffered a problem during the shakedown test, and the team was unable to get the spare parts in time to fix it, leaving the Team Principal to resume his role overseeing the sole #34 entry.
Eleven students from NCME at the University of Bolton joined the team today for their first on-event experience working alongside the seasoned Albatec engineers on Mark’s car, gaining crucial hands-on understanding of being part of a fully-fledged race team.
The Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship resumes at the spiritual home of rallycross, Lydden Hill in Kent on Easter Monday (2 April).
Mark Higgins, Albatec Racing driver #34:
“It’s been a positive weekend despite the result. The car was working well, we qualified well and had good starts all day. In the Final I knew what we had to do and was keeping it nice and neat behind [Julian] Godfrey, waiting for the joker, but unfortunately just landing off the jump it looks like a driveshaft broke and that was the end of it.
“The weather and conditions were horrendous, that was a challenge in itself for learning about the car and what these slick tyres are like on the gravel. The first time I experienced that was going into the first corner for the first time. Overall though, it’s been a good weekend and we’ll take a lot of positives from it and carry that forward to Lydden. At the end of the day we’ve grabbed some points, so we’ve not ended up with nothing, but there could have been a lot more.”
Andy Scott, Team Principal and driver Albatec Racing:
“It’s been a good weekend, although naturally a disappointing final result. Mark obviously had the speed to pull of his first race win. We need to take a good look at the car, we believe it was a driveshaft failure in the Final, but British rallycross had better watch out, Mark Higgins is coming!
“The NCME students I think got a lot out of the weekend too, they certainly immersed themselves in all the tasks they were given, and I hope it’s been a good experience for them. For myself it was very disappointing not to be racing due to the technical issues we suffered at the shakedown, but we’ll be back to two cars for Lydden and will be looking for an Albatec 1-2!”
Dr. Mark Busfield, Director, National Centre for Motorsport Engineering:
“This has been a great experience for the students and I’ve been very impressed with how they’ve have integrated themselves into the team. They worked hard in the build-up to the event through into the test, culminating in their participation as part of the event team this weekend.
“They will have learnt a lot from the experience I’m sure, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they progress as they get more knowledge and experience before the next race at Lydden Hill.”
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Mark Higgins, Albatec Racing driver #34:
