Sweden return mouth-watering for McRae

6th February 2012

By Charlie Contadeli

Alister McRae says he can't wait to return to Rally Sweden after eight years away from the Karlstad-based event.

McRae will line up in a works Proton Satria Neo for his debut in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship alongside team-mate and local hero PG Andersson.

"When the conditions are right on this event, Rally Sweden is the best in the world, no question," said the Scot. "When you are flat in top and leaning the car on the solid snow banks, coming out of the corner a gear higher than you thought possible, it's the best feeling in rallying. And I've missed it for the last eight years – so I can't tell you how glad I am to be back. It's fantastic."

The 41-year-old said Andersson's performance on the Norwegian championship Rally Finnskog on Saturday, where he finished as the leading S2000 runner, only served to increase his enthusiasm for the event.

"PG's result yesterday, along with the pace the team showed in Monte Carlo and the multiple championships we won last year have all lifted Proton Motorsports to another level," said McRae.

"Living in Western Australia, we don't get to see much snow, so it's going to take me a while to back into driving on the stuff. Fortunately, my car set-up is pretty similar to PG's – we saw that when we competed together on Rally of Scotland last year – so I should be able to start tomorrow's test with his base set-up on the Satria Neo.

"We start every event looking for the win and this is no different, but being realistic, I think PG is going to be the one more likely to be the fighting at the front, certainly at the start of the rally. He showed last year that he is extremely quick in these conditions – so we'll just follow him!"