Mark Higgins is set to make his full rallycross debut in the opening round of the British RX series at Silverstone on March 17.

The triple British Rally Champion has been confirmed for at least the opening two rounds of the 2018 Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship.

Round two is at the spiritual home of rallycross, Lydden Hill, Kent, in April, while plans are afoot to extend that to Silverstone’s FIA World Rallycross Championship round in May.

No stranger to rallycross, Higgins drove an RX150 buggy to victory in the B Final at Pembrey back in 2009.

Over the next few weeks, the James Bond stunt ace will swap 007’s Aston Martin DB10 for Albatec Racing’s 600bhp turbocharged Peugeot 208 RX Supercar for testing.

’This is a really great opportunity and one that I’m very excited about,’ said Mark recently. ’I’ve been talking to Albatec’s team principal Andy Scott for a while about having a test but our diaries kept clashing.

’They’re a great team, probably the premier team in the UK with a proven, successful car, and at this stage in my life I’ve learnt there’s only one way to do something, and that’s to do it properly.

’The personnel involved with the project, like Andy Scott and Mark Busfield, means we start from a strong position but I’m also excited about helping to develop the car not just for the British series but European and world championships too.’

Albatec and the National Centre for Motorsport Engineering (NCME) have announced a collaborative partnership that aims to provide career development opportunities for the next generation of motorsport engineers.

The collaboration will see NCME and Albatec work together in partnership to provide an unrivalled experience for students studying Motorsport and Automotive Performance Engineering at the University of Bolton, both in-class and on-event.

Manxman Mark, who has lived in Powys, Wales for more than 20 years, has plenty of supercar experience under his belt. He’s the fastest man on four wheels round the Mountain Course and been a stunt driver for Daniel Craig’s last three James Bond films.

He will work with the students from NCME and the Albatec team when he makes his rallycross debut at Silverstone in five weeks time.

’Having the NCME at University of Bolton on board is great, the entire project just seemed to tick all the right boxes,’ he enthused. ’It’s a very exciting programme from every aspect and one that we can really get our teeth into.

’I’ve spent a lot of time testing cars for manufacturers, and working with the students to develop the Peugeot is one of the elements I’m looking forward to the most. The car is already at a very good level, so working with the students will be really exciting to see if we can get the march on the other teams.

’I’ve really missed rallying in Britain, so I’m very pleased to be competing in the UK again in an environment where hopefully a lot of people can support us. The competition is fierce in British RX, they go in pretty hard, and I’m not going into it too confidently, but I’m certainly not going there to make up the numbers.’