Max McRae was one of 16 young stars in action in the Hankook-equipped category for under 27s when the 10th Junior ERC season began on ORLEN 79th Rally Poland last weekend.
Thu 25 May 2023
No better place to learn than “seriously competitive” Junior ERC
Alister McRae reckons his son Max has made the right call by choosing the FIA Junior ERC Championship to start the learning process at international level.
He finished sixth in class after several delays but also on the back of three top-three stage times in his Opel Corsa Rally4 run by top team The Racing Factory from Portugal.
After watching his 18-year-old son’s progress on the high-speed gravel event, former British champion and FIA World Rally Championship factory driver Alister McRae said: “I thought it would be competitive but I didn’t think it would be like this. It’s going to be a seriously competitive championship right through the year and Max is going to learn and build the experience and build the process through the year.”
Max McRae, who is Jimmy McRae’s grandson and the late Colin McRae’s nephew, said: “It definitely wasn’t an easy rally. To finish off with two top-three times after a troubled weekend, that’s really good and it’s good to end on a high. Apart from the troubles we’ve had it’s been a good experience and we’ve learned a lot. We’ve taken full advantage of this rally and taken the maximum out of it in terms of experience. Hopefully we can capitalise on that in Liepaja.”
The Hankook-equipped Junior ERC category for Rally4 and Rally5 cars continues on Tet Rally Liepāja in Latvia from 16 - 18 June. Ola Nore heads Norbert Maior and Victor Hansen in the provisional standings after round one.
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