McRae back in the WRC fray

In a Lazarus-like rise from the ashes, world rallying's seemingly forgotten man -- Colin McRae -- will return to the competitive arena in the Turkish Rally (from Oct 13-15).

The flying Scotsman's lucky break comes as the result of an unlucky break for defending world rally champion and current points leader Sebastien Loeb, who recently broke his arm in a mountain biking accident.

Loeb, who's this year competing in a Kronos-sponsored Citroen, says mountain biking is a key element of his rigorous fitness regime.

The Frenchman's misfortune leaves the door for Finland's Marcus Gronholm, who trails the former by 35 points in the 2006 title chase. It's unknown when Loeb will be fit to return to competitive action, so the aim is for McRae to deny the Finn as many points as possible -- obviously, in order to achieve this he'll need to finish ahead of the latter.

McRae's raw speed has never been questioned, but what has landed him in bother in the past has been his propensity to end up in the scenery -- resulting in the rather uncharitable nickname of 'Colin McCrash'.

Be that as it may, his resume includes the 1995 world championship title (with Subaru), and he's sprayed the champagne from the top step of the WRC podium on no less than 25 occasions.

McRae was Loeb's team mate at Citroen in 2003, but was relieved from duties at the end of the year. His last world rally appearance was at the end of 2005 with Skoda, when he competed in two events and briefly ran second in Australia.

Citroen said in a statement they had searched for "the best solution (to replace Loeb)" and McRae, 38, had answered the call. He'll be joined by his old partner in crime, co-driver Nicky Grist.

"It was a shock to hear about Seb's accident and I can only imagine how he must be feeling at this time, especially being so close to a third world title," Colin said on his personal website www.colinmcrae.com

"However I am delighted to have been chosen to replace Seb for the Rally of Turkey and am looking forward to having the opportunity to drive for the Kronos Total Citroen WRT, back behind the wheel of the Citroen Xsara WRC.

"The challenge will be to protect the positions of both Seb in the drivers and Kronos Total Citroen in the manufacturers' championships, by preventing the opposition taking advantage of Seb's temporary absence. Together with Nicky Grist, who will once again be my co-driver, we will do our utmost to help Loeb and the team in their efforts to secure the 2006 WRC titles."

Grab a ringside seat, folks. This is bound to be entertaining...