Third-generation McRae eyeing Junior WRC graduation for 2023

McRae, the son of former World Rally Championship driver Alister and nephew of the late 1995 WRC champion Colin, jumped aboard a Ford Fiesta Rally3 car for a maiden outing in JWRC machinery in Poland last week.

The 18-year-old completed 100 miles of running in the M-Sport Poland-built four-wheel drive Fiesta on asphalt roads, before undertaking a tour of the M-Sport workshop in Krakow.

The outing follows a debut in the British Rally Championship at the Nicky Grist Stages round last month, and a run at the Donegal International Rally during a trip from his native Australia, where he has been contesting the Australian Rally Championship.

McRae says the test in the Rally3 car has convinced him that the JWRC is the next logical step in his rally career, with plans to join the championship next year under way.

“There’s more power, more torque than the Fiesta Rally4 and, with it being four-wheel-drive, there’s no wheelspin off the line,” said McRae.

“What I really like is that it’s a car you have to get in and really drive – when you work that bit harder, the car comes alive and delivers so much. I was really impressed.

“Like you can imagine, I was pretty keen to do JWRC anyway, but now I’ve driven the car I just know that’s where I’ve got to be.

“The chance to drive that car on rounds of the World Rally Championship is totally the way to go and that’s what we’re working really hard towards now.

“To move from rallying in Australia to going to the world championship is a step up in budget, but it’s also an incredible opportunity to take experience of rallying at the highest level on surfaces and events like the snow in Sweden, the tarmac in Croatia and then rough and smooth fast gravel in places like Sardinia and Estonia.

“I don’t know what the calendar will be for next year, but events like that are the dream and a special way to take experience.”

McRae will now return to Australia for the Gippsland Rally (27/28 August) round of the Australian Rally Championship, where he will drive a Maximum Motorsport-prepared Subaru Impreza WRX.