Dumfries and Galloway Based Albatec Racing has confirmed it has entered the British round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, Cooper Tires World RX of Great Britain – Speedmachine at Silverstone on 25-27 May.
Triple British Rally Champion and James Bond stunt driver Mark Higgins will take the wheel of the team’s latest specification, Eddie Stobart partnering NCME Peugeot 208 RX Supercar. He joins a quality line-up that includes legendary World rally stars Petter Solberg and Sebastien Loeb, alongside reigning champion Johan Kristoffersson, former champion Mattias Ekstrom, and multiple race winners Andreas Bakkerud and Timmy Hansen.
Higgins is currently second in the Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship after two rounds, just three points adrift of the lead, following his maiden victory at Lydden Hill. The Manxman made his Supercar debut on the new Silverstone rallycross track in March, where the series regulars were joined by World RX stars Loeb, Hansen and Bakkerud. Higgins gave a good account of himself, posting competitive lap times that saw him fastest of the British series regulars after the semi-finals.
Now, Higgins joins the elite of rallycross racers as World RX makes it’s Silverstone debut at the Speedmachine Festival later this month. Speedmachine’s packed entertainment bill ensures there will be something for each event-goer to enjoy. This includes headline live music from the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Lethal Bizzle and Ministry of Sound, Esports, drifting, iconic car displays and the very best street food, not to mention a truly unique opportunity for attendees to get behind the wheel of a performance car and drive the world-famous Silverstone Formula 1 circuit.
Additional event information is available from www.fiaworldrallycross.com while event tickets can be purchased from http://www.speedmachine.com
Mark Higgins, Albatec Racing driver:
“It’s very difficult to know how we’ll perform at Silverstone, but I’m under no illusions of the task ahead. We’ve got all the big factory teams there, and we’ll be one of the few independent teams, but if we can get a good run and with a bit of luck on our side, who knows where we can be. All we can do is do our best.
“We’ll have the newer car which will be great. I didn’t have too bad a showing in the opening British round, setting some competitive times against three of the best rallycross racers in the world, and that was in the older car. It will be the first time I’ve gone back to a track for a second time, and just knowing how it all works, the track layout, the start and everything will hopefully help.”
Andy Scott, Team Principal and driver Albatec Racing:
“This is a great opportunity for Mark to race in World RX with the best in the world, where he can gain some valuable experience and get a measure of his performance across the quality entry. Hopefully he can showcase what he can do, and we can then gain some momentum to do further World RX rounds this year. We’d like to see him reach the semi-finals, if we can do that, it’s been a good result.
“He did the British RX event there in March, so he’s had some track time, albeit in zero temperatures and very different conditions to what we hope we’ll find at SpeedMachine. The newer car is a step forward to the car he’s currently using in BRX, so hopefully the new engine and improvements to the chassis will put him in a good position for the event.”
Dr Mark Busfield, Director, National Centre for Motorsport Engineering:
“At Silverstone the students are going to get a good insight into rallycross at the highest level, and although some of them experienced that in the opening BRX round, it’s a whole different ball game competing on the World RX calendar, where the stakes are much higher. It’s also going to be very important to measure our own performance against the World RX cars and interesting to see how Mark performs to see where he is in relation to the opposition.
“We’re also assisting the organisers with a cohort of students to assist on technical scrutineering matters, which is a great opportunity for them to see another side of the motorsport industry.”
