Wellsboro, Pa., June 4, 2012 – Subaru driver David Higgins completed the biggest comeback of his career to finish second overall on the sinuous and technical dirt roads of Pennsylvania's 2012 Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR), round four of six in the 2012 Rally America National Championship. Higgins dropped over three minutes to the leaders after a mechanical problem struck his Subaru on the event's first stage dropping him down to 13th Overall. With his BFGoodrich-tires shod Subaru WRX STI fully repaired for STPR's second and much longer day of rallying, Higgins pushed hard and climbed the leaderboard, finding himself on the podium at the finish. The strong result retains Higgins' substantial lead in the 2012 Rally America Championship standings and puts him within a handful of points of securing his second straight Rally America crown with two events still remaining.
On STPR's very first stage Higgins' Subaru experienced a transmission problem, forcing Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew to limp through the day's three stages before they could reach their service crew for repairs. The duo lost nearly three minutes and dropped to 13th Overall on the leaderboard. The Subaru Rally Team USA technicians repaired the #75 SRT USA STI, and Higgins was primed for a big attack on the second and much longer day of rallying that included nearly 90 miles of gravel stages through the dense forests of north-central Pennsylvania.
Higgins ascended the leaderboard throughout Saturday as he won seven of the 10 competition stages by large margins. However, the biggest push came mid-day after stage nine, when with just four special stages remaining, Higgins found himself in third overall but a seemingly daunting one-minute and 41 seconds behind second place driver Leo Urlichich. Higgins continued to push hard and amazingly clawed back all of that time and more, vaulting him into second place overall.
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