McRae finds no ride. Drops out of WRC.
McRae to give up World Championship rallying:
October 31, 2003
Colin McRae has announced that he will not contest the 2004 World Rally Championship.
The 1995 World Champion was left without a drive when Citroen decided to keep Carlos Sainz and has failed to raise the funds to run a semi-works car.
“There are numerous reasons for not competing in the 2004 World Championship and one of the main things is the change in the specific regulation that says each team can only have two registered cars,” McRae said. “It didn’t help that a definite decision wasn’t made early enough in the year to give anyone a chance of securing a drive. Because of that, the only option left was to find the funds to pay for a drive and, given the short timescale, it’s just almost impossible to pull that kind of money together.
“At the time Citroen made its decision, Carlos was in a stronger position in the championship than me, and still is. It also has very strong links with the Spanish market so both of these factors obviously contributed. Had the driver regulations not changed, Citroen had always stated they would keep all three of us; now they can’t.
“All this, coupled with the fact that it’s not been my best year in the sport, have meant I’ve not really enjoyed it. And I’ve always said that when I don’t enjoy it, I would seriously consider stepping back. The results haven’t been there and these two things go together; if you’re enjoying it, you’re competitive. I’m not as competitive as I want to be and this is another reason for pulling out.”
McRae said that he remained “positive” about his future in other fields and acknowledged speculation that he might contest the Paris-Dakar Rally in January.
http://www.worldrallynews.com/cgi-bi...7591601,47452,
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Too bad, the sport looses another great.
