Alister McRae is to make an earlier than expected return to rally competition with a drive next month. The Scot, who has been sidelined by the double blow of a serious mountain bike accident and the World Rally pull out of Mitsubishi, will contest the Rally of Portugal.
"This is the longest I've been out of a rally car in my whole career", said McRae after testing a Mitsubishi Lancer WRC earlier this week.
McRae will compete on next month's Rally of Portugal, an event he last visited in 2001 when he scored his first points for the Hyundai World Rally team. Though he will not be driving a Mitsubishi, McRae is confident that he will contest the event in a contemporary World Rally machine.
"The deal is 99 per cent done. I won't be driving a Mitsubishi, but it will be a current specification World Rally Car. I've spoken to Mitsubishi about this and they're happy."
No indication has been given about when Mitsubishi will return to the World Rally scene and the team is yet to start testing with either an updated Lancer WRC or, as rumours suggest, an all-new Colt World Rally car. McRae admitted that the team has not tested a new car yet and no time frame has been set for future testing.
"..right now all we're doing is logging data with the old car. I still don't know when we'll start work on the new one".
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