Scot hot to trot

COLIN McRae has re-established himself as a serious championship contender following his second win of the season in the gruelling Cyprus Rally.

The Scot failed to score a point in the first four events this year, but has now won two in a row to be third in the drivers' standings, just seven points behind Tommi Makinen.

"It's a fantastic result that puts us right back into the championship," McRae said. "If we can get another good result now in Greece later this month then we'll be right up there. We've shown before that when the car's reliable we can win almost anywhere and this proves it again." The victory was McRae's 22nd world rally win, which puts him just one win behind the all-time record of 23 shared by Carlos Sainz and Juha Kankkunen.

Fellow countryman Richard Burns put his championship aspirations back on track as well with a confidence boosting second place, finishing 16.4 seconds behind McRae after starting the final day with a three second lead.

McRae's Ford Martini teammate Carlos Sainz finished third to help lift Ford into the lead in the manufacturers title, three points clear of Mitsubishi. Ford's Focus drivers were dominant throughout the event, posting fastest times on 14 of the rally's 22 stages.

Japan's Toshihiro Arai, the third factory Subaru driver, brought his Impreza home in fourth position, but had not been nominated by the team to score points. Petter Solberg was Subaru's other hope, but his car caught fire and was destroyed after an accident on the final stage of day one.

Freddy Loix was left to hold Mitsubishi's team colours aloft when Makinen crashed out on the first day, but he had to settle for fifth after he collected a puncture during his pursuit of Arai over the final stages.

Alister McRae picked up two points for Hyundai, setting consistently good stage times in the Accent throughout the rally, despite falling victim to high tyre wear on the first day.

Skoda drivers Bruno Thiry and Armin Schwarz both recorded strong finishes, with their Octavia WRCs once again going the full distance to finish eighth and ninth respectively. Thiry score a hard-earned point for Skoda in the manufacturers championship as the sixth placed registered factory entry.

The punishing conditions and oppressive heat saw 46 of the original 76 starters fall by the wayside, with the Peugeot team coming away empty-handed for the second event in succession. Rally of Sweden winner Harri Rovanpera only managed to complete one stage before he was forced to retire with front suspension damage after hitting a rock.

Didier Auriol made it to day two, but retired on his way to service after stage nine due to high water temperature. World champion Marcus Gronholm looked set to give the French team a points finish as he was in third position heading into the final day, but his 206 WRC succumbed to fuel pressure problems with just four stages remaining.

Despite retiring from the event, Tommi Makinen continues to lead the drivers' championship although he is now just one point clear of Sainz, with McRae and Burns also ahead of the main pack in third and fourth respectively.

Mitsubishi slips to second in the manufacturers' title despite Loix's three points, as Ford have scored 14 points in each of the last two rallies. Subaru is now in third on 22 points, two points clear of Peugeot who failed to trouble the statistician for the second time in as many events.

RACE RESULTS 1 Colin McRae (Ford) 5hr07:32.7 2 R Burns (Subaru) +16.4 3 C Sainz (Ford) +26.5 4 T Arai (Subaru) +5:38.3 5 F Loix (Mitsubishi) +6:10.2 6 Pasi Hagstrom (Toyota) +9:32.5 7 A McRae (Hyundai) +10:35.6 8 B Thiry (Skoda) +11:38.0 9 A Schwarz (Skoda) +12:48.1 10 Abdullah Bakhashab (Toyota) +21:42.1 DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP 1 Makinen (FIN) 27 2 Sainz (ESP) 26 3 C McRae (GB) 20 4 Burns (GB) 15 5 Rovanpera (FIN) 10 6 Auriol (FRA) 10 7 F Delecour (FRA) 9 8 Loix (BEL) 7 9 T Radstrom (SWE) 6 10 G Panizzi (FRA) 6 MANUFACTURERS' CHAMPIONSHIP 1 Ford 50 2 Mitsubishi 47 3 Subaru 22 4 Peugeot 20 5 Hyundai 10 6 Skoda 7 Next round: Acropolis Rally, June 15-17