Didier Clément has worked with his fair share of superstars. Sébastiens Loeb and Ogier both have plenty to thank him for, as does the most recently decorated World Rally champion Thierry Neuville. Through his time at Citroën, he’s pretty much seen it all. And won it all. Which makes his praise of Max McRae even more noteworthy.
Now head of customer racing at Stellantis Motorsport, if it goes rallying with a Citroën, Opel, Peugeot or Lancia badge, Clément not only knows about it, he probably had a hand in engineering it. So, when McRae was tasked with driving last Saturday’s Rally of Tall Pines in Ontario, Clément challenged himself to keep his eyes open across date lines and time zones to watch Canada from Japan.
Making his North American debut, the 20-year-old Scot admitted he wasn’t sure what to expect from Tall Pines. He needn’t have worried. After relaxing at DirtFish for a few days, he headed north, completed a few test miles in the Team FJ Peugeot 208 Rally4 and then set about a field packed with four-wheel drive opposition.
The Rally4 drives only its front wheels and it does so with only around 180bhp – considerably less than cars ranged against McRae and co-driver Cameron Fair. With his wish for mild, dry conditions granted, Max set about making use of them. And he did so in some style.
After 16 stages and more than 100 miles of flat-out competition, he brought the car to the finish in second place overall. He was less than a minute off the podium’s top step.
McRae was pleased, Clément was delighted.
“This,” he told DirtFish, “was an amazing result for Max and for the team and Stellantis Motorsport. To set four fastest times overall and to be fastest two-wheel drive on every stage was incredible.
“We know that the Peugeot 208 Rally4 is a very good car, but this has shown also what a very good driver Max is. We are looking forward to doing more in North America.”
McRae won stages outright in Canada against R5/Rally2 opposition
Last Saturday was the perfect way to round out what’s been an exceptional second half of the season for the DirtFish-backed driver. He’s won two Junior ERC rounds and shown pace, maturity and consistency. But most of all, last weekend just made him smile.
“It was so much fun,” he grinned. “After Cam [Fair, co-driver] and I completed the recce, we knew we were going to have some fun – the roads were so fast with so many crests and jumps. It was just like Finland, but not an easy place to come and try to learn quickly and then compete against crews who have been doing the event for so many years.
“I’d heard a few stories about the potential for snow and ice, but in the end we had a mainly mild and dry event – that was great, it really gave us the chance to show what this car can do. The key for us was a really good, two-pass recce and then use those notes to make sure we could carry as much speed as possible through the high-speed corners and onto the straights.
“Honestly, the roads were awesome. It was a long rally and there were a lot of firsts for me here, I haven’t done much in the dark, so to win a stage in the night and take 20 seconds out of an R5 car was pretty special.
“The second half of this season has been fantastic and winning the class and finishing second overall here is just the perfect way to end it. The team here has been amazing and I want to say a big thanks to Stellantis, Team FJ and all of our partners.”
