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 and the death of his passengers. Sheriff Nikola Stewart stated, after the 16-day inquiry, that McRae had been engaged in "unnecessary and unsafe" low-level flying at the time of the crash. Sheriff Stewart concluded that the accident might have been avoided if McRae had not flown into the Mouse Valley. For a private pilot such as McRae, without enough experience, low-level flying in that terrain was very imprudent. Codemasters released the first "Colin McRae Rally" video game in 1998. Version "2", known as "Colin McRae Rally 2.0", was released in the year 2000, for Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft Windows; it