Family and friends say last goodbye to McRae

FAMILY and friends gathered yesterday for the funeral of former world rally champion Colin McRae and his five-year-old son Johnny.

Formula 1 racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart, Rangers and Scotland football players Ally McCoist and Barry Ferguson, and IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti were among the mourners.

The private service at Daldowie Crematorium, near Glasgow, was attended by almost 200 people.

McRae and his son died after their helicopter crashed in Lanarkshire 13 days ago.

Six-year-old Ben Porcelli, a friend of Johnny, also died along with Graeme Duncan, 37, who lived in France and had attended school with McRae.

McRae’s widow Alison and their nine-year-old daughter Hollie were among a crowd of over 500 mourners who attended Ben’s funeral earlier in the week.

McRae, who was 39, had been flying the helicopter when it came down in the grounds of his Jerviswood home, about a mile north of Lanark on Saturday, September 15.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has launched an investigation into the crash.

McRae was Britain’s first rally world champion in 1995 and is the son of five-time British rallying champion Jimmy McRae.

The service was conducted by family friend Reverend Tom Houston, who married McRae and his wife, and Rev Steven Reid, Johnny’s chaplain at Underbank Primary School in Lanark.

One of McRae’s favourite songs, Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding, was played as the family entered the church.