Ex-Mitsubishi and Hyundai WRC works driver, Alister McRae returns to China this coming weekend for the second round of the Chinese Rally Championship [CRC], the Liupanshui Rally in Guizhou province.
McRae will swap his Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EvoVIII for the latest specification EvoIX and will be hoping for a repeat of his performance on the opening round, which he won convincingly.
The second round of the series takes the crews deeper into the Chinese countryside, to mountainous territory and more challenging stages.
"The first round was held in the outskirts of Shanghai, so the stages were a bit formulaic; straights and square junctions mainly," he explained, "but from what I understand of the next event, the stages are twistier, with a variety of narrow roads and more open, flowing ones."
The Liupanshui Rally consists of 12 gravel stages, six separate roads each double-run. The events in the Chinese Championship run to a format familiar to regular drivers, with loops of two or three stages interspersed with a return to the central service park. The final round of the championship is also a round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, so the domestic series adopted the standard organisation for its events.
"The series works very well," said McRae prior to leaving for China. "Once you arrive, the information and organisation are very good. The Wanyu Rally Team itself is also impressive – better than I expected, if I'm honest.
"Competition in the series is also pretty close. David Higgins and Martin Rowe are doing it, so in some ways, it's a bit like a re-run of the fights we used to have in the British Rally Championship! There are also a couple of Finnish drivers, including my team-mate Juha Salo and a local driver Chi-Lu, who are very quick."
