Colin McRae has become, without doubt, one of the outstanding rallying talents of his generation. Before Colin could even hold a driving licence, he had been successful in motor sport, winning the Scottish schoolboy motorcross and trials championships when he was 13. At the age of 16 he won the West of Scotland auto-test (slalom) championship. He began rallying in 1986 and in 1987 joined the British Junior Rally Team to compete on the Swedish WRC event. Colin returned to the Swedish in 1989, this time with a Ford Sierra XR 4x4, finishing 15th overall. Later that year he went to New Zealand with a rear-drive Sierra Cosworth coming 5th. This showed what could happen in the future. He had a fourwheel drive Cosworth in 1990, finishing 2nd in the British Championship behind David Llewellin and coming 6th on the 1990 RAC. For 1991 a whole new world was opened when he was invited to join the Prodrive Subaru team for the 1991 British Rally Championship.
1993 saw him complete a whitewash, winning every round and never being headed on a single rally. Suddenly Britain had a genuine contender for the World Championship and, a year ahead of his initial intention, McRae hit the international scene in 1993. Britain's rally fans went wild when McRae stormed home to win in New Zealand, the first British win on a World Championship event since the late Roger Clark's RAC win in 1976.
In 1994 McRae added Australia to his collection, rounding off the season with victory on the RAC. 1995 saw McRae win his home event for the second season in a row to finally clinch the sport's greatest prize, the Drivers' Championship. His big dream had become true - he was World Champion.
In 1996 he was awarded one of Britain’s highest honours when he was named a Member of the British Empire (MBE). At the end of 1998 he left Subaru after eight years and moved to Ford. Wins in Kenya and Portugal showed his speed. In 2000 he won in Spain and Greece, but was not able to fight for World Championship title after the very bad accident in Corsica. Season 2001 started badly, but in Greece he took his third consecutive World Rally Championship victory and was on the top again. In Greece 2002 he achieved a hat-trick on this rally and in Kenya he was able to achieve 25th WRC victory as a first driver in history. In 2003 he joined Citroen and finished 7th on WRC for drivers.
For the 2004 Dakar, Colin will be joining the Nissan Rally Raid Team. A new team and a new area of competition, where he should be able to use all his talents and create some surprises. For the event, his navigator will be the extremely experienced Tina Thörner, who finished the 2003 Dakar in 7th place, alongside Ari Vatanen. |
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