Alister McRae

Born in Lanark, Scotland, McRae came from a family steeped in motorsport. His father Jimmy was a multiple British rally champion, and his brother Colin would go on to become world champion. McRae took his first steps into motorsport at the age of twelve, beginning with motorcycle trials and motocross before gravitating toward rally driving, following in the family tradition.

McRae started out competing in Scottish Rally Championship events before attracting wider attention. In 1992, he won the prestigious Shell Scholarship and the production category of Great Britain's round of the World Rally Championship. Success continued to build, and in 1995 he won the British Rally Championship outright, driving a works Nissan Sunny. This achievement placed him alongside his father as a British champion, though in different eras.

Further manufacturer drives followed, including a two-year contract with the Formula 2 Volkswagen Golf program. In one notable 1998 appearance, McRae joined his brother Colin at the Subaru World Rally Team on a one-off basis for the Rally of Great Britain.

McRae's WRC career took a significant step when Hyundai recruited him as they entered the championship. In 1999 he competed in their front-wheel-drive Coupe while simultaneously developing the Accent WRC alongside veteran Kenneth Eriksson. Through 2000 and 2001 the program matured: McRae scored the manufacturer's first ever WRC points in 2000, and by 2001 a series of points-scoring finishes — including a near-podium on his home Rally of Great Britain — gave Hyundai their best WRC results to that point.

In 2002 McRae joined Mitsubishi, but the season proved difficult. The Japanese manufacturer was restructuring and fielding an uncompetitive new car. The campaign was cut short when McRae suffered injuries in a mountain bike crash shortly after Rally San Remo, ending his season prematurely. Mitsubishi subsequently withdrew from rallying at the start of 2003, leaving McRae to assemble a sporadic privateer campaign. He scored WRC points driving a Lancer Evolution in New Zealand.

For 2004, McRae entered the Production World Rally Championship, and led the title chase before a mechanical failure on the final event handed the championship to Niall McShea.

McRae broadened his horizons in the years that followed. In 2006 he competed successfully in the Chinese Rally Championship with the Wanyu Rally Team in a Mitsubishi Evo 9, and also appeared at the Wales Rally GB in a Toyota Corolla S2000, recording four Group N stage wins. In 2009 he participated in the Dakar Rally and also drove a Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 at the Indonesian leg of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

In early 2007, following the death of his brother Colin in a helicopter crash, McRae filled in for him at the Race of Champions at Wembley, partnering Formula 1 driver David Coulthard to represent Scotland and Great Britain. McRae made his FIA World Rallycross Championship debut in 2017, competing in the ninth round of the season in France.

Alister McRae carved out a respectable international career in the shadow of his more celebrated brother, winning national championships and contributing to Hyundai's foundational WRC years. His son Max McRae has continued the family tradition by also pursuing a career in motorsport, extending the McRae name into a third generation of competition.