Wednesday 22nd November 1995

Colin McRae became the first ever British driver to win a World Rally Championship title. With co-driver Derek Ringer, he won the Network Q RAC Rally ahead of chief rival and teammate Carlos Sainz, with new boy Richard Burns taking the third podium spot for a Subaru 1-2-3. By beating Sainz, McRae had done exactly what he needed to win the world title, following a season in which Sainz had started with much stronger results. Indeed, Sainz took three wins in 1995, to McRae’s two – but a late-season charge by the Scot, with two wins and two second-place finishes while Sainz suffered a non-start and retirement in New Zealand and Australia, were enough to claw back the deficit to the Spaniard.