THE legacy of the late world rally champion Colin McRae was honoured at one of West Fife's top sporting venues yesterday.

Knockhill Racing Circuit is, this weekend, playing host to the McRae Rally Challenge, in which three generations of the motorsport family are taking part.

Being run for a second time, the event, which takes place today (Saturday) and continues tomorrow (Sunday), will commemorate the life and achievents of Colin, who became Britain's first World Rally Championship (WRC) winner in 1995, as well as those of his father, Jimmy; brother, Alister; and Alister's son, and current rising star, Max.

Ahead of the engines being revved and the action-packed event beginning in earnest, members of the McRae family - including Jimmy, Alister and Max - were present to witness a corner of the track at Scotland's national motorsport centre be renamed as 'McRae Corner'.

A ribbon ceremony, performed by Max McRae and Hollie McRae using the famous Subaru L555BAT rally car, as opposed to scissors, marked the opening of the corner, at 'Duffus Dip, the circuit's first right-hander.

The first day of the event, which is already underway, will see a number of former global champions - including Derek Ringer, who partnered Colin to the world title, Phil Mills, Louise Aitken-Walker and Tina Thorner, attend, while Sir Chris Hoy – a six-time Olympic Games cycling gold-medalist, and family friend of the McRaes – will also be making his rallying debut.

However, Stig Blomqvist, who had been due to attend, has had to withdraw following disruptions to his flights that would have brought him to West Fife.

The Swede had been set to participate in the rally alongside Luis Moya, however, the latter is still attending, and will assume a role as one of the hosts on the Ouninpohja Stage, where he will interview many of the other star guests and participate in the fans’ forum on Saturday evening.

"It’s unfortunate that the rally has been robbed of Stig and his iconic Magnum and Quattro, but the content and presence of Luis, and the many other stars and cars will still hopefully be an ample incentive to entice rally fans to Knockhill this weekend," Stuart Gray, events director at Knockhill, said.

"Stig is obviously extremely disappointed to be missing out this time around, given how much he enjoyed the first event in 2015… but it just wasn’t meant to be."

Knockhill are anticipating crowds of more than 5,000 will attend on each day to watch a field of entrants that also includes current World Rally Championship star Elfyn Evans, who will be supporting his father, Gwyndaf.

As well as top class rally action, fans can enjoy track parades, demonstrations, on-stage interviews, car displays and much more, including Jimmy, Alister and Max going head-to-head for the first time.

Tickets are available for each day on the gate and, for more information, visit www.knockhill.com.

Dunfermline Press:

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