Makinen's fast Finnish

TOMMI Mäkinen began his attempt to regain the FIA World Rally Championship in style by winning this year's opening round, the Rallye Monte Carlo, last weekend in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.

The Finn was handed an easier run over the final four stages when overnight leader Colin McRae retired his Ford Focus RS WRC after the opening test.

Carlos Sainz and Francois Delecour gave Ford some consolation by coming home in second and third respectively, while Armin Schwarz scored a morale-boosting fourth-place finish for Skoda, equalling the marque's best ever world championship result.

Mäkinen was poised to attack McRae's narrow lead on the last morning of the rally on Sunday but once he came across the Scot's Ford on the opening stage, he backed off and cruised to his third Rallye Monte Carlo victory in succession.

"I nearly hit Colin," said the four-times FIA World champion. "It was hard to stop at the hairpin and I had to reverse and then go around him.

"It was bad luck for Colin this morning, but a win here gives us 10 important points." McRae started the final day with a lead of just 3.5 seconds over Mäkinen but before the mid-point of the first test his hopes of victory were dashed when his Focus's fly-by-wire throttle stopped working.

He reset the car's electronics and the unit kicked back into life, but it soon stopped again. McRae and navigator Nicky Grist worked furiously to fit a mechanical link but the fly-by-wire motor itself had seized and hasty repairs meant that the throttle jammed open occasionally during the rest of the stage.

Ford engineers tried to radio advice to McRae to allow him to fix the problem before the next stage but the Scot ran out of time.

McRae said: "It was a safety issue. We'd already lost so much time and if the throttle had jammed open in the next stage, who knows what could have happened.

It's a new system but it's hard to say whether or not it should be used. You have to try these things." McRae's two teammates each moved up a place, even though new second placed man Carlos Sainz spun on the Col de Turini. "It was silly," said the Spaniard. "I just slid round at a hairpin and it was difficult to find reverse. Conditions were very tricky." He recovered to finish a comfortable second, albeit more than a minute behind Mäkinen.

The remaining Focus of Francois Delecour started the final day's stages less than five seconds behind Schwarz, and although the Frenchman inched ahead on the Col de Turini, he lost the place immediately in SS13.

However, a fastest time on the second run over Turini was enough to catapult Delecour back into third, and he held the final podium place to the finish.

World champion Marcus Gronholm had a disappointing start to his title defence, forced out with water pump failure in his Peugeot 206 WRC.

OUTRIGHT RESULTS 1 Makinen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4:38:04.3 2 Sainz Ford Focus RS WRC 4:39:05.1 3 Delecour Ford Focus RS WRC 4:40:09.6 4 Schwarz Skoda Octavia WRC 4:40:30.3 5 Gardemeister Peugeot 206 WRC 4:43:56.4 6 Loix Mitsubishi Carisma GT 4:44:30.2 7 A.McRae Hyundai Accent WRC 4:47:08.3 8 Thiry Skoda Octavia WRC 4:51:59.3 9 Gillet Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4:54:28.2 10 Stohl Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4:55:54.6 CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers: Mäkinen (FIN) 10 Sainz (E) 6 Delecour (F) 4 Schwarz (D) 3 Gardemeister (FIN) 2 Loix (B) 1 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers: Mitsubishi 13 Ford 6 Skoda 5 Hyundai 2