Rally whets McRae's appetite

Colin McRae admits he is keen to return to the world championship full-time after sampling a one-off comeback in Wales Rally GB.

The Scotsman was tempted out of exile by Skoda for the Cardiff-based event, which finished under a cloud yesterday following the death of Markko Martin’s co-driver Michael Park.

McRae, the 1995 world champion, showed glimpses of his old magic on his way to seventh place and is now looking to return on a more permanent basis in 2006.

He said: “Overall we did what we came to do. It would have been nice to have finished higher but we also had to be realistic once we saw the conditions on the opening morning.

“The car was fine and we have been able to see what we can do for the future. I’ve enjoyed the event and proved to myself how much I want to come back to the sport.”

McRae’s co-driver Nicky Grist hinted at serious problems with the Skoda car, which hampered the pair’s progress.

McRae suffered a start-line problem which he branded “unacceptable” before losing his semi-automatic gear shift for several stages.

Grist conceded much needs to be done for Skoda to become a force in the world championship.

He said: “To be honest, the car has reached its limitations now and the team will be having a major debrief at the end of this rally.

“There is quite a lot of work still to be done and, at the end of the day, the team’s future is at stake so I cannot make any comment on that until that decision has been made.”

Grist insisted he would have no problem working with McRae again, despite the pair’s acrimonious split in 2002.

“As far as me working with Colin again goes, it feels like we have never been apart,” he added.

“Two years ago, when we took the decision to part company there were a lot of pressures on Colin and he made the right decisions. One thing about getting older is that you get wiser and I still feel that we can go a long way together.”