Network Q RAC Rally 1995: Colin McRae wins to be crowned the youngest World Rally Champion
The 1995 RAC Rally would prove to be an absolute classic with the championship going right to the wire. There was much tension in the air before the start of the rally following the team-orders situation imposed by Subaru on Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz which left them both tied on points at the top of the table coming into the RAC.
The situation had only cooled slightly as Colin was completely focused on the job at hand. And boy did he thrash Carlos all over the country in what was probably Colin's greatest single performance on an event. Tommi Makinen and Kenneth Eriksson both crashed out early on in their Mitsubishi's but wouldn't have kept up with McRae's pace in the forests. The first sign of things to come was on the first forest stage which was Hamsterley where Colin took 28s out of his rivals in 17 miles. This was his opening gambit and had everyone else on the backfoot.
Even though McRae punctured in Pundershaw and lost around two minutes this still wasn't enough for Sainz to capitalise on in his identical Subaru Impreza 555. McRae would take between 10 and 15s out of Sainz on every stage despite suffering hydraulic problems in Wales and clouting a rock in Kershope.
This was McRae at his best spurred on, by perhaps, the rally's biggest ever crowd on home ground. Nothing was going to deny him the title and Sainz conceded he couldn't do anything about McRae's pace. In the end Colin McRae became the youngest ever World Rally Champion capped off by the drive of his life.
Behind a dejected Sainz came Richard Burns in the third to give Subaru a 1-2-3 result and to score his best ever WRC finish to date. Alister McRae got his best WRC result as well with fourth in a private Escort Cosworth. But the moment belonged to one Colin Steele McRae who became Britain's first World Champion.
Below the BBC Top Gear Rally Report telling the story of the 1995 RAC:
Carlos had to admit he was well beaten:
Makinen showed early promise but then crashed out:
There was no stopping McRae achieving his goal:
Network Q RAC Rally 1995 Top Ten Results:
| 1st | 4 | McRae, Colin Subaru Impreza 555 |
GB | A8 | 5h 09m 19s | --:-- |
| 2nd | 5 | Sainz, Carlos Subaru Impreza 555 |
ES | A | +36s | --:-- |
| 3rd | 6 | Burns, Richard Subaru Impreza 555 |
GB | A | +6m 39s | --:-- |
| 4th | 44 | McRae, Alister Ford Escort RS Cosworth |
GB | A | +11m 15s | --:-- |
| 5th | 8 | Thiry, Bruno Ford Escort RS Cosworth |
BE | A | +11m 52s | --:-- |
| 6th | 18 | Evans, Gwyndaf Ford Escort RS2000 |
GB | A | +32m 48s | --:-- |
| 7th | 12 | Madeira, Rui Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III |
PT | N | +34m 45s | --:-- |
| 8th | 17 | Kytolehto, Jarmo Nissan Sunny |
FI | A | +36m 00s | --:-- |
| 9th | 36 | Kamioka, Masao Subaru Impreza WRX |
JP | N | +41m 02s | --:-- |
| 10th | 19 | Oreille, Alain Renault Clio Maxi |
FR | A | +41m 21s | --:-- |
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- Network Q RAC Rally 1993: Juha Kankkunen wins a very snowy RAC in his Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD
- Network Q Rally of Great Britain 2001: Richard Burns claims the title in ‘Battle of Britain’ clash
- Wales Rally GB 2008 route details plus a look back to the Network Q Rally of Great Britain 2000, the last time the rally used stages in mid-Wales
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