Max McRae will contest a full British Rally Championship season in 2026 with a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
The 21-year-old Scot won his first BRC event at the end of last year on his gravel debut with a Škoda, inspiring him to continue his relationship with the Dom Buckley RSC outfit.
Co-driven by Cameron Fair, McRae will compete in this weekend’s Rally North Wales as a warm-up ahead of the British championship season which begins with the Severn Valley Stages (April 11).
McRae talked to Dirtfish ahead of the announcement: “I’m really excited. I think this could shape up to be a really good year for us.
“We tried the Škoda at the last round last year, the Cambrian Rally, and we ended up winning that. So I think taking that momentum into this year with the Škoda and Pirelli tires, we’ve pretty much got the best package we can get.
“There’s no reason in me to think that we can’t win the championship this year, especially after having a full year learning last year. It didn’t go to plan, we had some retirements, but that’s rallying. I’m pretty confident and I’m sure we’ll enjoy it regardless.”
McRae views the BRC as the perfect place for him this year given the intensity of the events, and the family history that comes with it.
“The British Championship has shorter events than something you’d get in the European Championship or obviously the World Championship but that also adds the aspect that it’s all quick local guys, so you have to be flat out from the first stage,” he said.
“If you lose 10 seconds on the first stage, you don’t really have time to catch that up over the next eight stages. Especially if it’s a one-day event, you don’t have that time. So it teaches you to really be on it from the first stage, which I think is great.
“But we wouldn’t be doing it again without the idea of getting my name on that trophy as well,” he added. “Dad [Alister] was the last McRae to win it in 1995 and then obviously it would be quite a big gap in years between dad and me winning the championship if I could get my name on that trophy. That would be a massive dream ticked off the bucket list for me and the family.”
Max has competed in the European Rally Championship for the past three years, but for 2026 has turned his international attentions to the WRC – a series he’s yet to compete in.
“I hope we can make it to WRC2 with the Škoda and Dom Buckley,” he explained. “We’ve still got to work very hard to find the budget, but I think we’ll definitely be at some WRC events this year.
“I’m not sure which ones yet, but I’d like to do some rough events and then some fast events just to build up my experience. To be on a WRC event would just be incredible, so we’ll keep working as hard as we can at it to make that happen.”
