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
Colin McRae Formula One driver David Coulthard, a good friend of McRae, who was due to represent Scotland along with him in the Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium on 16 December, described him as "an understated yet fantastically talented individual", he also announced that he would race the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix with a helmet livery similar to that of McRae's as a tribute. During the finale of the 2007 Scottish Rally Championship, the "Colin McRae Forest Stages" held in Perth in September 2007, there was no number 1 car as McRae had been due to drive the course car on