DAVID Higgins has been crowned American Rally Association (ARA) champion.

The Trefeglwys based driver, along with co-driver Craig Drew, won four events in a Subaru WRX STI prepared by Vermont SportsCar, to take the title.

Higgins was crowned after winning the Tour de Forest Rally in Washington State having previously won the Oregan Trail Rally, Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally, New England Forest Rally and Minnesota’s Ojibwe Forests Rally.

Higgins ended second at the Idaho Rally to secure the title ahead of the final round in Washington.

“Our number one objective was to win a championship,” said Higgins. “We knew we’d get a challenge from our teammates throughout the season, and there were some new events on the calendar this year, so we expected some ups and downs.

“It’s tough because as a driver you always want to go flat out for stage wins and event victories, but Craig and I just had to trust our strategy so we could focus on bringing home the trophy.

“Lots of credit to the Subaru team for keeping the car in good order and we’ll look forward to our title defence next year.”

The 2018 ARA crown represents Higgins’ ninth overall rally championship in the USA and seventh with Subaru.

Meanwhile Drew is now joint most decorated co-driver in the history of US rallying while Subaru have now won 12 major championships in the past 13 years.