Colin McRae the standings in either 1996 or 1997, on both occasions behind Finland and Mitsubishi Ralliart's Tommi Mäkinen. He helped Subaru complete their run of three consecutive manufacturers' titles during this time. In what would turn out to be his final season with the team, in 1998 he won three more rallies and placed third in the standings, as well as winning the Race of Champions in Gran Canaria, the Canary Islands. After several years of varying success, McRae switched to the M-Sport-run Ford factory team for 1999, driving the new Ford Focus rally car. The deal saw McRae earning six
Subaru Vivio the car. He made the decision to enter three of the sports model "Vivio Super KK" driven by Masashi Ishida, local driver Patrick Njiru and up and coming WRC star Colin McRae on his Safari debut. "Super KK" is the FIA homologation name for the RX-R grade, in rally trim the 660 cc engine produced at 6,000 rpm. Only one of the three cars finished where it settled for 12th place driven by Njiru. McRae did manage to set the fastest stage time before managing up to two stages up to Makindu before retiring with suspension failure. He later said