Over and out for McRae – Monte jinx strikes again

McRae stopped with a throttle problem on SS12, the first stage of the rally's third and final leg, but connected a manual cable and limped to the start of SS13. But with the FBW system's motor seized for good, he was advised to retire by his Ford team.

The Scot, who has an appalling record of bad luck on the season-opening classic, had come into the final leg with a 3.5 second lead over Mitsubishi's Tommi Makinen, after battling back from time lost due to spectator problems. But the Ford ace's demise means the Finn now looks set to join an exclusive club by taking his third consecutive Monte victory.

Speaking to Autosport.com Ford rally team boss Malcolm Wilson said: "Basically it's a problem with the FBW throttle's motor - the part attached directly to the engine, and not the linkage itself. It appears that it has not only failed, but seized as well.

"We have a back-up cable which has to be connected, but when Colin fitted that, it still wouldn't work because of the motor seizure. He disconnected the motor and did a temporary repair to get the car moving, but it was flapping around and kept jamming the throttle.

"We waited until they got as close to the start of the next stage as possible before we tried to advise him on how to rectify the problem, but it's a difficult part to access and he just ran out of time.

"This motor's done 3000 kilometres in testing without a problem," he added, "and it's the same motor used in Indycars by Cosworth, so it has a good history. Colin's problem wasn't the same as Francois [Delecour] suffered yesterday."

McRae's Ford team mates, Carlos Sainz and Delecour, are currently second and fourth respectively after 13 of the rally's 15 stages.

For full story from Colin McRae and Nicky Grist, click HERE.