Alister McRae

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Alister McRae

World Rally Championship record
Nationality	Scottish
Active years	1992–2006
Teams	Volkswagen, Hyundai, Mitsubishi
World rallies	73
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Stage wins	5
Points	20
First world rally	1992 RAC Rally


Last world rally	2006 RAC Rally
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Alister McRae (born December 20, 1970 in Lanark) is a Scottish WRC driver. He is the son of 5-time British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae and the younger brother of ex-World Champion Rally driver Colin McRae.

Alister McRae took his first foray into motorsport at the age of twelve, when he took up motorcycle trials and motorcross. But it was always rallying where he would demonstrate his true colours. Starting out by competing in Scottish Rally Championship events, success wasn't long in coming. In 1992, he won the prestigious Shell Scholarship and the production category of the UK's round of the World Rally Championship.

The following years saw further triumphs, culminating with Alister winning the British Rally Championship outright in 1995, at the wheel of a works Nissan Sunny. Success breeds success and more manufacturer drives were to follow, with a two-year contract t drive the Formula 2 Volkswagen Golf, which he used to excellent effect.

His results and reputation led to his services being secured by the newest manufacturer to join the World Rally Championship, Hyundai. In 1999, he competed in the front wheel drive Coupe while simultaneously developing Hyundai's first world rally car, the Accent WRC. Then in 2000, he developed the car further during its first year of actual competition and scored the manufacturers first ever WRC points. In 2001, the fruits of two years' hard work began to show, with a series of points-scoring finishes and a narrow miss of the podium on his home event, the Rally of Great Britain.

Following his excellent performance with Hyundai, he was selected to join Mitsubishi, stalwart of the WRC, in 2002. This transpired to be a difficult year, as the Japanese manufacturer found itself in turmoil, with an uncompetitive new car and a massive management re-structure. It subsequently pulled out of rallying at the beginning of the '03 season, to build a new rally car from scratch.

Undaunted, Alister entered the 2004 Production World Rally Championship and was on course to take the title on the last event before, in a cruel twist of fate, a mechanical failure robbed him of the title.

2006 sees Alister successfully competing in the Chinese Rally Championship with the Wanyu Rally Team in a Mitsubishi Evo9 along with a number of other selected international events. Alister gave the new Toyota S2000 Corolla a good run at the recent Wales Rally GB, with 4 Group N Stage Wins.