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Colin McRae
1968 - 2007
Die Sportwelt trauert um einen der besten Rallye-Fahrer: Colin McRae tödlich verunglückt.
London - Beim Absturz eines Hubschraubers, der dem früheren Rallye-Weltmeister Colin McRae gehört, sind am Abend des 05. August in Schottland alle vier Insassen ums Leben gekommen. Bei dem Unglück in einem Waldgebiet nahe seines Wohnortes Lanark waren auch der 39-jährige McRae sowie sein fünfjähriger Sohn an Bord. Da der Helikopter nach dem Crash ausbrannte, war eine Identifizierung der Toten zunächst unmöglich. McRae hinterlässt seine Frau Alison und Tochter Hollie.
McRae, der als leidenschaftlicher Hubschrauber-Pilot galt, hatte seine erfolgreiche Rallye-Karriere 1995 mit dem einzigen Weltmeistertitel gekrönt. Drei Mal war der Schotte WM-Zweiter. Zwischen 1987 und 2004 gewann er 25 WM-Läufe und belegt damit in der ewigen Rangliste hinter Sebastien Loeb (33), Marcus Grönholm (30) und Carlos Sainz (26) den vierten Platz. 2005 beendete McRae seine aktive Karriere im Motorsport. Die Fans liebten an McRae vor allem seinen spektakulären Fahrstil, bei dem er manchmal auch das Limit überschritt. Zahlreiche heftige Unfälle bescherten ihm den Spitznamen "Colin McCrash".
Bei der Dakar-Rallye 2008 sollte er für das hessische X-raid-Team am Steuer sitzen. 2007 hatte Jutta Kleinschmidt nach ihrer Trennung von VW die Dakar-Rallye für X-raid bestritten, dabei nach vielen Problemen aber nur Rang 15 belegt.
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Rally ace Colin McRae dies in air crash
COLIN McRAE, the former world rally champion, died along with his
five-year-old son Johnny when his helicopter crashed near Lanark in Scotland
yesterday. Two other people on board, believed to be close friends of McRae,
also died. Jean-Eric Freudiger, the driver’s agent, confirmed McRae’s wife
Alison and daughter Hollie were not on board.
The Squirrel aircraft came down in Jervis Wood near Lanark just after 4pm and
immediately burst into flames. Strathclyde police said the damage to the
helicopter was so bad that it could not immediately be determined how many
people were on board. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has been called in
to investigate the cause of the crash.
The Scottish Ambulance Service said its own helicopter was despatched to the
scene along with three ambulance crews. Strathclyde Fire Service also had units
in attendance at the scene.
McRae was one of the most popular and successful drivers the sport has seen. He
won 25 rallies in the World Rally Championship, finished on the podium 42 times
and claimed the world championship itself in 1995. The next year he was awarded
an MBE. He won a host of fans throughout the world, captivated by his daredevil
style – he became as well known for his spectacular spills as for his victories.
He achieved his greatest successes with Subaru, before helping to transform the
fortunes of Ford. He signed for the team in 1999 and won two races, a feat he
repeated the following year. In 2001 he came within a whisker of winning the
world championship again but was pipped to the title by fellow Briton Richard
Burns. The two men seemed set for a rivalry that would last for years, and
captivate the sport, but in a cruel twist of fate, Burns was forced to quit when
he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Burns fought a brave battle before dying
in November 2005 – exactly four years after winning his title.
McRae won two more rallies for Ford in 2002, but the team did not renew his
contract at the end of the season, and, incredibly, he found himself without a
drive. He took part in various celebrity events, pulling in big crowds wherever
he drove, and in 2004 he finished third in the GT class of the Le Mans 24-hour
race.
He also took part in the Dakar rally. In 2005 he recorded two fastest times and
was leading the event by more than six minutes when his Nissan hit a hidden
ledge and catapulted end over end at high speed. Amazingly, McRae and his
co-driver escaped serious injury.
McRae was one of the most flamboyant drivers in British sport and inspired one
of the world’s best-selling computer rally games. His father, Jimmy, was five
times British rally champion, and his son inherited his love of cars.
McRae’s brother, Alister, a former British rally champion, is in Australia.
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