It makes Higgins the third most successful driver in the history of the British Rally Championship behind Jimmy McRae, who notched up five wins in the 1980s, and the late Roger Clark, who was similarly dominant in the 1970s with four titles.

Driving his Stobart VK Subaru, Higgins fought back from third position at the lunchtime service to overhaul all bar works Mitsubishi driver Ryan Champion in the one-day rally, played out over the fearsomely fast Yorkshire forest stages made famous by the RAC Rally.

'Everything went to plan this year,' said the 35 year-old, who resides in Abermule, Powys. 'It's been a testament to Stobart Motorsport and the team how well it has gone.

I adopted a different approach to the year and we've never been far away from the fastest stage times all season.

'We took it pretty steady on Saturday morning, maybe too steady, and we had a gearbox problem before the service stop.

In the afternoon we could push a little harder but we decided on the last stage not to do anything silly and make sure we finished.'

Mark adds the 2006 title to those won in 2005 and 1997 and still has a round left in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship. He finished the rally just 10 seconds away from winner Ryan Champion.

Port Erin co-driver Rob Fagg finished runner-up in the S16600 class with Ludlow's James Wozencroft, behind the similar Suzuki Ignis of series winner Guy Wilks.

A full account of Mark Higgins's BRC-winning drive will appear in Friday's Manx Independent.