David Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew won the final round of the 2016 Rally America National Championship this weekend at the Lake Superior Performance Rally. SRTUSA teammates, Travis Pastrana and Robbie Durant finished second in their matching Open Class Subaru WRX STI rally cars.
Going into Day 2 of the Houghton, Michigan based event, David Higgins and Craig Drew had solid lead in the #75 WRX STI. However, rather than charge hard for the win, Pastrana and Durant set their objectives to improve pace notes and work on perfecting in-car communication. ??"Robbie and I are working to get the notes as good as we can and also trying to understand the capabilities of our STI. The car has so much down force and it works great, but there is such a difference slowing down from 120mph to a corner, than slowing down from 60mph to a corner. Learning the car, learning how to best work with my co-driver, as well as my own limits is a lot of work, thus we need some time before we even get to where David is now." said Pastrana.
David Higgins and Craig Drew slowly extended their lead over the #199 WRX STI on Saturday’s more technical and challenging roads. Both the SRTUSA cars had largely trouble free stage miles and reached the finish in Houghton unscathed. The spectator street stage ended the 2016 Rally America season with hundreds of rally fans watching from every possible vantage point.??
"Today's stages were actually more grippy than I was expecting. However, we were not pushing hard on most of them staying in the middle of the road and out of trouble. It’s been a good season and we wouldn't be able to do it without the great help from our team. They do a fabulous job on our Subaru's and I am very thankful for them! As always, great job by my co-driver Craig Drew providing spot on notes throughout the season. I’m looking forward to spending some time at home relaxing with my kids and watching them race karts." said Higgins at the finish.
The Lake Superior Performance Rally concludes another championship winning season for Subaru Rally Team USA and the #75 WRX STI of David Higgins and Craig Drew. Congratulations to David and Craig for another impressive year and a job well done!
