Alister McRae will return to the World Rally Championship for the first time in almost five years when he tackles Rally Sweden with Proton next month.
The Feb. 9-12 event, round two of Proton's Super 2000 WRC commitment, will be the Scot's first ordinary rally outing of the season, although he has contested the Dakar cross-country rally already this month. McRae, who will also defend his Asia Pacific title with Proton, has not been seen in the WRC since a one-off Mitsubishi Group N drive on the 2007 Rally New Zealand.
"It's great to be back in the WRC," said the former British Rally champion. "It's been a while since I was competing at this level, but it's great to get the chance again with Proton. Sweden is an event all drivers really enjoy; stage stages are nice and fast and flowing and, providing there's good snow, there's always very good grip."
McRae has plenty of experience of the Karlstad-based event, having competed on it seven times and finished fifth overall in the past.
Proton will field Satria-Neo S2000s for P-G Andersson and Giandomenico Basso in this week's SWRC opener, the Monte Carlo Rally.