Burns takes title fight to home event

Richard Burns scored 2nd place on the Australia rally despite a dramatic final day charge that led to a last stage shoot-out, but goes to the Rally GB ready to bid for his first World Championship crown. The Englishman faces a tough challenge if he is to beat series leader Marcus Gronholm, 1st in Australia after rally winner Makinen was excluded from Telstra Rally Australia after scrutineers found irregularities in the turbocharger of the winning Mitsubishi. But on his home rally Burns is the pace-setting driver. "No one could even get close to him in Britain last year," said Subaru-Pirelli team mate Juha Kankkunen...

Rally Australia 2000 proved to be more about tactics than outright performance and this proved to be a frustration on many occasions. The problems created by the cleaning effect of the unique "ball bearing" surface in Western Australia forced drivers to artificially pace themselves in order to get favourable start positions. Bizarrely this problem was not so significant on final Leg3.

Pirelli, whose PZero range of gravel tyres (K and KM patterns were mainly used) performed perfectly over the whole event, is still involved in three FIA championship bids. While Burns takes on Gronholm for the Drivers' title, the Spike Subaru team has also used Pirelli tyres during its FIA Teams Cup campaign, as have Manfred Stohl and Gustavo Trelles (both Mitsubishi-Pirelli) who are the only drivers left in the Group N contest. 2000 FIA Asia-Pacific and five-time Australian Champion Possum Bourne added the Australian Manufacturers Championship to the Subaru-Pirelli success story.

FINAL STANDING (21 SSs totally):

1. Gronholm (Peugeot); 2. Burns (Subaru-Pirelli); 3. Delecour (Peugeot); 4. Eriksson (Hyundai); 5. Laukkanen (Ford); 6. Gardemeister (SEAT-Pirelli); 7. Bourne (Subaru-Pirelli); 8. Panizzi (Peugeot); 9. Auriol (SEAT-Pirelli)

RALLY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (after 13 out of 14 events)

Drivers:
1. Gronholm pt.59; 2. Burns 50; 3. McRae and Sainz 43; 5. Makinen 42; 6. Panizzi 23; 7. Delecour 22; 8. Kankkunen 18; 9. Rovanpera 7; 10. Solberg 6; 11. Auriol, Loix, Arai and Eriksson 4; 15. Gardemeister and Radstrom 3; . . .

Manufacturers:
1. Peugeot pt. 104; 2. Ford 88; 3. Subaru-Pirelli 76; 4. Mitsubishi 39; 5. SEAT-Pirelli 9; 6. Skoda 8; 7. Hyundai 7

Group N:
1. Stohl pt.65; 2. Trelles 64; 3. Pozzo 22; 4. Paasonen 21; 5. Menzi 17;. . .

NEXT EVENT: Great Britain (gravel), dal 22 al26 novembre

Perth (Australia), November 12, 2000