And immediately followed that up with its second!Ĭhances are you’ll remember the 1995 Rallye Catalunya for one of two reasons. The Subaru World Rally Team took its first 1-2 finish in 1995. Still, strange to think that the ‘world’ champion in 1995 had, by that point, only been on the top step in two countries…Ĥ. This would all be a moot point had team orders not been such an infamous factor on the ’95 Rallye Catalunya – which we’ll come back to in a second – and McRae would soon hush all doubters with seven wins across six different countries in 19. And on the event’s 50 th running too, no less. Fun fact, McRae and co-driver Derek Ringer’s inaugural win on the RAC in 1994 marked the first time an all-British pairing had won the British event since Roger Clark and Tony Mason in 1972. Odd then that, having won his fifth WRC event to secure the title in 1995, the Scot at that point had only ever triumphed on the world stage on Rally New Zealand (’93, ’94 and ’95) and the RAC Rally in Wales (’94 and ’95). Still, of those 25 wins, McRae cemented himself into the WRC’s hall of fame with hero-making performances on the Acropolis, the Tour de Corse, in Catalunya, and, yes, on the vaunted Safari. When he was unceremoniously dropped by Citroën after the 2003 season, Colin McRae walked away from the WRC with 25 wins to his name, a total putting him 2 nd on the all-time list before Messers Loeb, Ogier and Grönholm came along to decisively rip the record books in twain. Upon his coronation, Colin McRae had only ever won in New Zealand and Great Britain Only Munari’s one-point advantage over Björn Waldegård in 1977, and, aptly, the Swede’s own one-point advantage over Hannu Mikkola to claim the ’79 trophy had been closer before that.ģ. Few title chases up to that point had been closer though, with just five points separating McRae from teammate Sainz at the flag. McRae ironically scored two points more – 92 – en-route to 2 nd in the standings in 1996. Only Sandro Munari winning the iunaugural crown in 1977 with the legendary Lancia Stratos ‘beats’ the pair of them with 31 points scored, and bear in mind on that occasion, only the Italian’s best eight results counted towards the FIA Cup for Rally Drivers. Two wins that season, two 2nds, one 3 rd and a solitary 5 th though meant the ’95 champ eventually ended his season on 90 points, the lowest points total since Markku Alén scored 52 points in the Fiat 131 Abarth to secure the ’78 title. On top of that, McRae’s accident in Monte Carlo and engine issues in Sweden meant the Scot went into the third round in Portugal with no points on the board compared with championship-leader Tommi Mäkinen’s 25. For starters, the 1995 WRC season featured the least number of rallies in series history at eight, the one and only time the calendar has dipped beneath 10 rounds. At the time, McRae’s points total was the third lowest for a World Rally Champion and ’95 was the third closest title fight.Ī statistic that seems scandalous on the surface but starts to make sense the further into the quagmire one delves. Never say never in motor racing of course, but it’s looking increasingly likely that McRae’s 24-year record isn’t going anywhere any time soon.Ģ. Compare that also with newly crowned Ott Tänak, who sealed his first WRC crown this year at 32 years and 12 days old. The closest we got this century was in 2003 when Petter Solberg, at 28 years and 356 days, fell well over a year and a half short. Oddly, despite the record for youngest winner of a WRC event dropping since then – an almost 23-year-old Jari-Matti Latvala broke 24-year-old Henri Toivonen’s record at the 2008 Swedish Rally – none of the champions to have been crowned since 1995 have come close to even equalling McRae’s record, let alone breaking it. At 27 years and 109 days old, Colin McRae became the youngest WRC champion in history at the 1995 RAC Rally in Wales, pipping ’86 champion Juha Kankkunen by 140 days (4.5 months, give or take) in the process. Kicking off with a fact that, admittedly, the more hardcore rally fans among you may already be familiar with, but one that bears repeating nonetheless. McRae is still the youngest World Rally Champion in series history.
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