Juha Kankkunen by then lost the title to Mäkinen. Kankkunen stayed with Ford for the 1998 season with Belgian driver Bruno Thiry as his new teammate, after Sainz had opted to re-join Toyota. Ford was already moving resources into developing the new Ford Focus WRC and the team's last year with the Escort WRC was winless. Kankkunen drove the car on the podium on seven occasions, and both Ford and Kankkunen finished fourth in their respective championships. For the 1999 season, Ford signed the Subaru World Rally Team star Colin McRae and Kankkunen moved to replace him at Subaru. Kankkunen's first year
Jimmy McRae 2014 Wales Rally GB for the first time in ten years. Jimmy McRae Jimmy McRae (born 28 October 1943) is a British rally driver. He was highly successful in the British Rally Championship, winning the title five times in 1981, 1982, 1984, 1987 and 1988. In the European Rally Championship for drivers, he was runner-up in 1982, while his highest placing in the World Rally Championship was fifteenth in 1983. Aside from his rallying career, McRae has maintained and run a very busy plumbing business in his home town of Lanark. Jimmy and his wife Margaret had three sons, Colin,