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Max McRae flies high with the Peugeot 208 Rally4 in Canada!

Peugeot Sport decided to call upon some of its leading drivers to represent the brand as it returned to racing in North America. On the back of his eye-catching performances in the ERC, Max McRae – son of Alister and nephew of the late Colin – was invited to contest the Rally of the Tall Pines in the Canadian Rally Championship and he literally blew everyone away.

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After a long hiatus from competing in North America stretching back to the 2013 Pikes Peak, when Sébastien Loeb and the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak shattered the then record, Peugeot Sport joined forces with TEAM FJ and decided to enlist the most deserving drivers from its talent pool to showcase the qualities of the acclaimed PEUGEOT 208 Rally4. A PEUGEOT 208 Rally4 featuring vintage decals in a nod to its successful appearance last time out on the roads of Colorado. After the PEUGEOT made a fine début at the Rallye de Charlevoix, driving duties were handed over to young Scot Max McRae for the Rally of the Tall Pines, a Canadian Rally Championship event.

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 “I’m really grateful to Stellantis Motorsport for giving me this opportunity and I’m super excited,” commented a clearly delighted Max ahead of the rally. He certainly rewarded the team’s faith once the event got underway. Not only did he top the two-wheel class after securing a clean sweep of the stage wins, but he also managed the impressive feat of finishing second overall, winning an incredible four stages outright. “It was great,” was his analysis at the finish! “We were really able to show what this car is capable of doing. The key for us was having a good recce and making accurate notes so that we could set a strong pace on these roads, with the high-speed turns and big jumps. Honestly, the roads were superb. There were a lot of firsts for me here this weekend. I don’t have much experience of driving at night, so winning a night stage and beating a Rally2 category car by more than twenty seconds was something really special. It was an excellent rally, completed without any problems whatsoever. Getting the class win and finishing runner-up in the overall standings is the perfect way to thank TEAM FJ, who were incredible, Stellantis Motorsport and all our partners.” Comments that were echoed by Didier Clément, Customer Racing Sports Director, Stellantis Motorsport: “We know that the PEUGEOT 208 Rally4 is an excellent car, but this weekend has also shown just how good Max is as a driver. We can’t wait to compete more in North America.” 

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The experience, which was an unmitigated success, was also acclaimed by the entire North American rally community. It is therefore highly likely that 2025 will see a number of outings at rallies in Canada and the USA, as well as test sessions in the coming weeks in order to provide local drivers with the opportunity to try out the PEUGEOT 208 Rally4 and prepare for the 2025 season, which is due to kick off in January with the snow rallies.

Three questions for… Max McRae

What did you learn from this rally?

It was a very rewarding experience for me because my experience on fast stages like the ones we faced here, with blind crests and jumps, is still limited. So it was good to tackle them in racing conditions and work on notes in these sorts of conditions.

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What did you think about the handling of the PEUGEOT 208 Rally4 on these stages? 

As has been the case all year for me, the PEUGEOT 208 Rally4 handled absolutely perfectly throughout the weekend. We had no trouble finding the right set-up so I could feel confident to push. To be honest, given the fact we managed several stages wins up against four-wheel drive cars, I think you could tell!

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What are your plans for 2025?

We’re working on them at the moment. We’d like to do a few races in Europe in a Rally2 car. Whatever happens, I would like to thank Stellantis Motorsport and Peugeot Sport once again for having given me this opportunity and I hope we’ll have the chance to work together again in the near future.

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