Alister McRae leads home assault posted in RSCOT21 | 09 | 2011

LANARK'S ALISTER McRAE will lead the 'home' challenge in RallyScotland, the penultimate round of the Intercontinental Rally Championship, when it roars into action next month.

And the 60-car entry list, confirmed today — 24 hours after we brought you the first details — includes 39 teams and 18 Super S2000 cars, making it one of the strongest IRC fields of the season. The rally starts at Stirling Castle on Friday, October 7 and finishes in Perth two days later on Sunday.

While Monte Carlo Rally winner, Frenchman Bryan Bouffier, is seeded at number one, his fellow Peugeot factory runners, Belgian Thierry Neuville and Darlington's Guy Wilks are seeded four and seven respectively. The Englishman won the inaugural RallyScotland in 2009.

And while there are also four Skodas in the top 10, for Jan Kopecky, Freddy Loix, last year's RallyScotland winner and IRC champ Juho Hanninen, and Andreas Mikkelsen, most Scots eyes will be on cars No 9 and 11.

Former British champ McRae (pictured) returns to Scotland behind the wheel of his bright yellow, No9 Satria Neo S2000. The Lanark driver will also be partnered in another Satria by P-G Andersson.

"It's great to see such a strong entry for RallyScotland," McRae, who posted Proton's best ever IRC result when he finished second to Wilks, said today.

Strong entry list for RallyScotland

"It's definitely going to be one of the most keenly fought rallies of the year. Obviously, I've got good memories of the roads up there — and the fans are pretty good too!

"Obviously winning a rally like this would be a really tough task. The guys we're going to be fighting against have been battling with each other on a regular basis this year, and this will be our first IRC outing of the season.

"It's been fantastic competing in the APRC (Asia-Pacific Rally Championship), but the IRC is definitely a step up. The Proton has been getting stronger and stronger all year, though.

"The team has done a fantastic job with the car, working on the suspension and engine — we're definitely a big step ahead of where we were this time last year."

Meanwhile Dumfries youngster David Bogie, already crowned Scottish champ for the third successive year and poised to clinch the British title this weekend in Yorkshire, starts 11th in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. The 23-year-old finished fourth overall last year, and leading Scot.

RallyScotland top 20 seeds:

1. Bryan Bouffier/Xavier Pansei —Peugeot 207 S2000;

2. Jan Kopecky/Petr Stary — Skoda Fabia S2000;

3. Freddy Loix/Frederic Miclote — Skoda Fabia S2000;

4. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gisoul — Peugeot 207 S2000;

5. Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkul — Skoda Fabia S2000;

6. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floen — Skoda Fabia S2000;

7. Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh — Peugeot 207 S2000;

8. P-G Andersson/Emil Axelsson — Proton Satria Neo S2000;

9. Alister McRae/Bill Hayes — Proton Satria Neo S2000;

10. Toshi Arai/Dale Moscatt — Subaru Impreza WRX;

11. David Bogie/Kevin Rae — Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX;

12. Tonio Gardemeister/Tapio Suminen — Skoda Fabia S2000;

14. Karl Kruda/Martin Jarveoja — Skoda Fabia S2000;

15. Patrmik Sandell/Staffan Parander — Skoda Fabia S2000;

16. Jarkko Nikara/Petri Nikara — Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX;

17. Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts — Ford Fiesta S2000;

18. Robert Barrable/Damien Conolly — Skoda Fabia S2000;

19. Alastair Fisher/Daniel Baritt — Ford Fiesta S2000;

20. Jonny Greer/Dai Roberts — Skoda Fabia S2000;

21. Matthias Kahle/Peter Gobel — Skoda Fabia S2000.

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Jim McGill