McRae Could Make WRC Return

According to an exclusive report in this week's Autosport magazine, rally organisers are hoping that the trend of declining spectator numbers at the event can be reversed if a high-profile British star like McRae competes.

Andrew Coe, the Rally GB's commercial boss, ruled out completely bankrolling an entry for McRae but admitted that he would do all he could to ensure the Scotsman could take part in the event.

"There are certainly things we can do to help make it easier for Colin to get in a car," Coe told Autosport. "There's a strong will to make this happen because we need personalities like Colin McRae and it needs to come sooner rather than later."

McRae himself has reacted positively to the suggestion of returning to the WRC, having not competed in the category since he left the Citroen team at the end of 2003.

"Just from a fun point of view I would like to come back and do it," he said. "At the same time, it would be quite interesting to see how quick I am. It would be coming up to two years that I've been out of a World Rally Car, so it wouldn't be that easy to jump straight back into the car.

"But I don't think they (the current WRC drivers) are driving any faster than I did and the cars are probably only tenths of a second faster than when I was driving."