Alister McRae hopes to be flying in new rally car

Published on Thursday 19 November 2009 09:14

FORMER British Rally champion Alister McRae has been promised the quickest-ever Proton Satria S2000 as the Lanark 38-year-old launches his bid to win the inaugural RallyScotland which gets underway at Scone Palace this evening, writes JIM McGILL.

Proton MEM team principal Chris Mellors is confident McRae, who competed with a similar car in China at the weekend, will have the right tools to do the job over the next three days.

"We've made significant changes and improvements to the engine, as well as giving the car a new batch of gearbox ratios," Mellors said as McRae put the car through its paces during a test at Loch Ard in the Trossachs.

"It's all looking very positive. This is the quickest and the best specification Proton we've built so far. The car's really starting to show its form now."

McRae starts as one of the favourites for the event, the final round of the Intercontinental Rally Championship, alongside the Peugeot of newly-crowned champ Kris Meeke from Dungannon.

Other drivers likely to battle for places on the podium at Saturday's closing ceremony at Stirling Castle are double British champion Guy Wilks (Skoda S2000) from Darlington, 2009 British champion, Cork's Keith Cronin (Abarth S2000) and 2009 Scottish champion David Bogie (Mitsubishi) from Dumfries.