Jardine Lloyd Thompson takes on the world.

Jardine Lloyd Thompson [JLT] World Rally Team drivers past and present will be at the centre of a fantastic five-way shootout for this year's FIA Production Car World Rally Championship crown after both Alister McRae and Niall McShea finished on the podium at the Tour de Corse at the weekend.

Alister, the brother of 1995 world champion Colin and the current Jardine Lloyd Thompson-backed driver, took third in Corsica. Driving for the RED World Rally Team, Alister, 32, has scored four podium finishes from five events and currently has 26 points - just three behind the title leader.

Niall, who sprung to prominence in 2000 when he won the Roger Clark Award, a British talent-search competition, was second in Corsica. From 2001-'03 he had his Junior and Production world championship outings backed by Jardine Lloyd Thompson. This season Niall, 30, has carried backing arranged by JLT director John Lloyd from Lloyd Helicopters. He is just two points off the title leader.

Now the pair will head to next month's Rally Australia, which runs from November 12-14, fighting each other - and their three other rivals - to be crowned with the prestigious title of World Production Cup Champion. With points awarded on a sliding scale of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 from first to eighth place, it promises to be an incredible battle.

Following the pair's latest battle, which featured heavily in ITV's primetime coverage on Sunday afternoon, Alister joked: "I have thought about winding Niall up a bit, but he's from Ireland so I'm not sure he's got enough up top to play mind games with!"

Not to be outdone, Niall replied: "There's not a lot of point a young lad like me playing games with an old man like Alister! He's been around far too long to let a youngster like me rattle him!"

Contenders for the FIA Production Car World Championship and their points totals are now: Jani Paasonen 29; Niall McShea 27; Alister McRae 26; Toshi Arai; Xavier Pons 24; Toshi Arai 20.