In a world with increasingly short attention spans and fast-evolving trends, holding attention is no easy feat.
McRae would appear to fall into this category, but it’s not quite so simple. The DirtFish-backed driver says a combination of being in the right car and having more experience at Rally2 level is just as valuable as ticking off the first win.
Max had Dai Roberts in his mind all weekend, and dedicated his victory to him
“When the rally is on you refocus, but before the first stage, Bothwell, was quite tricky, because we were driving past spots where I remember memories of Dai and James [Williams] doing tire pressures at the side of the road by themselves before heading into the stage, and they waved at you and stuff like that, so that was difficult.
“But at the same time, you have to put it behind you. You just have to. So at the end of the rally, it was kind of just like a big relief, and obviously because you’re trying to manage a lead for a day and a half. But that was obviously a massive part, was that relief. And then obviously you start talking about James’ family and the Roberts family, and obviously it’s hard not to get emotional.”
McRae welled up at the stop-line as he dedicated his win to Dai.
“Louise Roberts, Dai’s wife, and she was actually messaging me over the weekend saying ‘good luck and win it for the family’, which was very nice to hear because they’re supporting you on such a difficult weekend for them. So that was equally difficult but very, very nice to see.
“And I was speaking to James and his fiancée Adele a little bit over the rally and at the end of the rally, and everyone was kind of just rooting for us to win it after what we had last year at the scene. I think we were kind of the only ones fighting at the top that were actually at the scene of the event last year.
“So yeah, I think everyone was kind of rooting for us. I got quite a lot of messages, which were really emotional, but I’m just so glad we could win this one for Dai.”
