Mountain biking claims second WRC victim.

The cliche that lightning doesn't strike twice may or may not be true, but the fact that it can strike damn close cannot be doubted.

Following Alister McRae's mountain biking accident a few months ago, another rally driver has suffered a fall from his bike - and this time it's Alister's big brother Colin McRae!

Alister has missed two WRC events and was withdrawn from a third after he suffered a bad fall when he came off his mountain bike before the San Remo Rally. He subsequently found out that he had bruised his liver in the fall and is now in a race against time to be fit for Network Q Rally GB.

Colin was out on his mountain bike a few days ago when he fell off his bike. And which part of his anatomy took most of the damage? 'Down Under' might be the best description.

Ford endured many questions about the condition of Colin's little finger earlier in the season when McRae threatened to cut it off after he damaged it in a crash in Corsica. Following the finger story it's been speculated whether Colin will be making a similar announcement.

A Ford spokesperson comments: "I don't really like to enquire on the condition of Colin's lower regions.

"But he has badly scraped his left hand and scraped the bottom of his back and yes his backside. It makes it difficult for him to bend down so it's causing him discomfort rather than pain."

Richard Burns co-driver Robert Reid is another of the walking-wounded Brits in Australia. Reid hurt his ribs when Burns crashed Gilles Panizzi's Peugeot 206 during a test last week. Reid may miss shakedown on Thursday morning just to give him extra time before the action gets underway on later on that evening.