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You are in: Special Events: 2000: Rally of Great Britain |
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Monday, 27 November, 2000, 06:05 GMT
Burns: I must improve
Burns admits he lost to a better man this year
Richard Burns believes he will have to step up a gear next year if he wants to avenge his defeat in the world rally championship.
The 29-year-old became the first home driver to win the Network Q Rally of Great Britain three years in succession on Sunday but it was not enough to win the drivers' crown. Burns, who led the championship by 14 points at one stage, missed out by five points as Finland's Marcus Gronholm finished second after 17 treacherous special stages in the rain-lashed Welsh forests. "All credit to Marcus because he has had a fantastic year," said Burns. "I have been beaten by the better driver so next year I will have to do better.
"You've almost got to make no mistakes to win the title these days, and I made three. But then it's not possible to make none at all because it's so close. And if you want to win, you have to take risks. "I will be raring to go when the new season starts in Monte Carlo in January. "I don't feel down or depressed because I did not expect to win the world championship because I was nine points down coming into the rally. "Marcus had already done a good job to make sure he had a comfortable margin." Burns, only the third man to complete a hat-trick of victories in Britain, added: "My aim was to win this rally. "This victory is just as satisfying as my other two here, although there are obviously other emotions regarding the championship." Fight back Burns, who was 21st after his Subaru hit a rock on the second stage, eventually triumphed by just over a minute, having benefited when fellow Briton Colin McRae crashed out on Saturday. But Gronholm, who only needed to bring his Peugeot 206 home in the top five, did so with ease to become the sixth Finn to be crowned world champion. The 32-year-old, whose father was killed in a rally testing accident when he was 13, triumphed in his first full season in the championship. Gronholm eased his way through the mud yesterday, content not to add to the three fastest stage times he set on the opening leg.
"I didn't take any risks, just kept a good enough speed so I didn't relax too much and lose concentration," he said. "It is a fantastic feeling to be world champion. "We didn't expect to win this year. At the first rally in Monte Carlo I would never have thought I could be world champion this year. "I only started thinking about it after I won in Finland. Now I just hope I can do it again next year." Fellow Finn Tommi Makinen, champion for the past four years, finished just under 10 seconds adrift in third place with Spain's Carlos Sainz fourth. That was enough for Sainz to claim third place outright in the drivers' championship at the expense of Ford team-mate McRae, who was heading for a fourth win on his home rally before the crash.
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See also:
26 Nov 00 | Rally of Great Britain
14 Nov 00 | Motorsport
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