Battle of local heroes as eyes of world rallying focus on Scotland

Beamed live to more than 70 countries around the globe by Eurosport, the IRC sits comfortably below only the World Rally Championship. But, while the event is contested by a truly international field, two Scots — both British champions, though their achievements are separated by 16 years — will demand most attention.

Lanark’s Alister McRae, now based in Perth, Australia, who will drive his Proton Satria S2000, currently leads the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. He was only denied his first win in the APRC due to a puncture in the most recent event, the Rally Hokkaido in Japan.

Having lost more than two minutes, he finished just 8.8 seconds behind the winner.

“Rally Hokkaido was a bit of a double-edged sword,” McRae said. “But we were happy with the ultimate outcome. Now, though, the focus is on Scotland. We had a good finish here a couple of years ago, when we finished second. The competition is going to be really tough, there’s a good, quality entry. But we’ll be doing everything we can to give the Scottish crowd something to cheer.”

In addition to McRae, most Scots eyes will be on Dumfries 24-year-old David Bogie, the newly-crowned British Rally champion.

He said: “There’s going to be a good bit of friendly banter and rivalry between Alister and myself.” Bogie, fourth overall last year and who will again drive his Mitsubishi Evo IX, added: “He beat me in 2009 and I finished ahead of him last year.

“It’s been a fantastic year so far, winning both the British and Scottish titles, and finishing the season with another good result in RallyScotland, the biggest event of the year for me, would be perfect.

“I know I have no realistic chance of winning overall, simply because of the number of faster S2000 cars in the field, but I’ll be doing everything I can to finish top Group N car.”

The man to beat though is last year’s IRC champ and 2010 RallyScotland winner Juho Hanninen. The Finn, while retaining a mathematical possibility of retaining his title, has vowed to do everything he can to help his Skoda team-mate, championship leader Jan Kopecky.

The Czech, 25 points clear of Belgian Peugeot driver Thierry Neuville, is one of six drivers who heads into the closing two rallies — the final round is in Cyprus in four weeks — still with hopes of the championship.

The rally gets underway this evening with a ceremonial start at Stirling Castle, before two 5.2-miles tests in the Carron Valley.

There are a further six stages tomorrow before the final seven stages on Sunday.