The McRae family saga looks never ending, following in the footsteps of both his father and brother, Alister has managed through drive, determination and good results, to forge his own place in the World Championship, and it hasn't been easy! If the McRae name might have been of some help at the beginning of his career, since then it has perhaps been more of a drawback and Alister still struggles to be recognised on his own terms instead of being just "Colin's brother".

A quick look at his results shows that irrespective of his family name we are looking at a top rank driver. British rally champion in '95 for Nissan after being spotted at international level with his good results in the RAC driving Subarus, the youngest McRae quickly did the jump into the World Championship entering the F2 class. Signed on first by VW and then by Hyundai Alister took several class victories at the wheel of the Golf and the Hyundai Coupé, which were enough to land a works driver contract with the Korean maker when they first entered the WRC. With the Accent, Alister had to battle hard in a less competitive car against the other WRC works cars but despite this handicap he obtained some very promising results, such as his fourth place in the always demanding RAC, that helped him to be signed by Mitsubishi.

Sadly for the Scottish driver, his arrival at the Japanese team was just as the multi-victorious Lancer was on the way down. Alister could not get the good results he wanted with the off-the-pace Lancer WRC and, after a season of near unemployment following the withdrawal of Mitsubishi, McRae has had to take a step back this year to show what he is capable of by racing in the PWRC at the wheel of a Subaru entered by the British privateer organization RED.

The season it's not being easy so far for Alister, struggling to keep on the pace of the more powerful EVO VII and VIII, although the good handling of the Subaru and his driving skills allowed him to finish second in Sweden and third in New Zealand, results that keep McRae in the fight for the title. He is currently lying fifth overall after the Argentinean Rally. Add to that the fact that Alister already has already taken his mandatory "no entry" this year which means he will be present at all the remaining rallies with the main aim of battling for victory.