Britain’s Alister McRae – younger brother of the late rally legend Colin McRae – will join the FIA World Rallycross Championship for the final four rounds of the 2017 season. He will replace Guy Wilks in the LOCO Energy Polo RX Supercar and his first event will be at Loheac (France) in just under two weeks’ time (1-3 September).
 
McRae - who hails from Scotland but is now based in Perth, Australia - has a rich background in rallying having contested over 75 WRC events in the past with Subaru, Hyundai and Mitsubishi.  He has also competed in the Chinese Rally Championship, the Dakar Rally and most recently the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), which he won in 2011.
 
“It’s great to get the opportunity to drive the Loco Energy Drink Polo RX Supercar in France,” explained McRae.  “World RX is amazingly competitive so it’s going to be a baptism of fire, but something I’m really looking forward to.  I’m really excited to be running in Loheac - I expect the weekend is going to be one big learning curve but I can’t wait to get started.”
 
Wilks competed in the previous eight World RX rounds before vacating his seat for McRae. Wilks explained: “I decided to vacate the seat with LOCO from Canada onwards.  I hope to be back in World RX again soon but in the meantime, I wish Alister the best of luck – he is a talent behind the wheel so it will be interesting to watch how he gets on in RX. I would just like to part by thanking the team members who helped until this point – they were great.”
 
As well as Loheac RX, McRae will also drive in the other three remaining World RX rounds in Latvia (15-17 September), Germany (29 September-1 October) and South Africa (17-19 November).