David Higgins claimed victory at the weekend’s New England Forest Rally, moving him top of the 2019 American Rally Association (ARA) Championship standings.

Manxman Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew took the lead early on Friday and carefully navigated the rough, rocky stages through the remainder of the event to secure their second outright victory of the season.

Team-mate Oliver Solberg and co-driver Denis Giraudet pushed through an early puncture to set overall fastest times on 10 of the event’s 13 stages, finishing fifth overall.

Reigning champions Higgins and Drew entered the weekend tied for first in the standings and looking for a strong showing after mechanical issues kept them off the podium at June’s Idaho Rally.

The pair were fastest through the event’s first stage and after the second held a slim lead over Solberg and Giraudet.

With their team-mates dropping back because of a flat tyre on stage three, Higgins was able to close out the rally’s first day with a lead of nearly a minute over eventual second-place finisher Barry McKenna.

Day two presented its own challenges, with a nine-stage schedule made even tougher thanks to stifling heat and humidity.

Higgins and Drew focused on managing their lead while Solberg and Giraudet went all-out to make up time and earn stage wins.

When the dust settled, the Subaru team-mates had won all 13 of the event’s stages between them and positioned themselves in first and third overall in the championship.

’This event’s been really good!’ Said Higgins after the rally.

’Tough stages, very hot, but this is always a great rally because there are so many spectators - you feel the pressure to perform for them.

’We’re back in the lead in the championship again now, so things are looking a bit better than they were a few weeks ago. A great day for us and a great day for Subaru.’

Higgins and Drew will return alongside Travis Pastrana and Robbie Durant at Minnesota’s Ojibwe Forests Rally, August 22-24, while Solberg will next compete at September’s Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.