DAVID Higgins will drive the Canterbury-based Barretts Subaru Impreza on the Network Q Rally of Great Britain, starting on Thursday. His co-driver for the final round of the World Rally Championship will be the experienced Craig Thorley, from York.

The team, fresh from some excellent results in Russia in October, have rebuilt the Group N car and adapted it to run on the gravel surface featured for much of the rally. After extensive and encouraging testing in Wales at the Higgins family rally school, the driver is confident of a good result.

He said: "I finished second in Group N and 11th overall on the 1998 Network Q in a Barretts prepared Subaru and was comfortably leading the category in the same car in 1999, before being sidelined by a freak mechanical failure. I really think with the new car we can win Group N this year."

The car was originally built to the latest Group N regulations for Higgins to contest the 2001 British Rally Championship with the Barretts team. Due to the Foot and Mouth outbreak, however, the championship was cancelled before the first event.

The result on the rally is therefore even more important to the team as it will be the first opportunity to see how competitive they are on the gravel surface.

Barretts managing director Paul Barrett said: "David's pace on the tarmac roads in Russia was beyond our wildest expectations.

This car is at its best on loose gravel.

I am confident that, with a bit of luck on our side, we can achieve our goal of a Group N win and a top 15 position overall."

A back-up team of 12 will support David on the rally, including six technicians, an engineer, catering personnel and team management. Sponsors include Pirelli Tyres, Icom (UK), Raceline Wheels and Castrol.

The rally starts from Cardiff City Hall at 6.30pm on Thuresday evening.

The 1,000-mile route includes 242 miles of competitive driving featuring 15 special stages on Forestry Commission gravel roads in South Wales and includes two Super Special stages on the Thyssen Rallysprint Course in Cardiff Bay. The finish outside City Hall is at 4.10pm on Sunday.