Burns edges past McRae

Richard Burns will be first off on Sunday morning

Richard Burns took an unwanted lead over fellow Briton Colin McRae at the end of the penultimate leg of the Cyprus Rally.

The Subaru driver was unable to prevent McRae from registering a slower time on the 14th stage and will start with a slender three-second lead on Sunday.

The first driver of the day acts as a roadsweeper over the boulder-ridden track, often enduring the worst conditions. That can lose him valuable seconds over the next car.

That was exemplified by overnight leader Marcus Gronholm, who lost valuable time on Saturday and finished the leg in third place.

This rally is still wide open and it will be a tough battle for all of us on the final leg

  Colin McRae

"I don't think it will be beneficial to be first on the road on the final leg but there is not a lot we could have done about it," Burns said.

"I've had no problems with the car and things went well.

"The engineers have raised the front a bit so there is less dust coming through the air vent."

Burns hit out at McRae's tactics.

"It has been a difficult day but the situation has been slightly engineered by Ford," he said.

"I've driven as fast as I could on every one of the stages and, to be honest, if that meant ending the day first or second so be it.

'Wary eye'

"But now we face driving on the final leg with a disadvantage and it's not a straight fight. How many times do we have to have this situation?"

Ford driver McRae made no secret of his actions.

"The last stage went according to plan and we backed off to make sure that I start the last leg behind Richard," McRae said.

"I didn't want to be first on the road and I pulled back a bit," he said. "Now if Richard makes a mistake we will be able to pass him."

McRae is aiming to follow-up his success in Argentina with victory on the Mediterranean island, enjoyed a relatively trouble-free day.

"We kept a wary eye on our tyres as they wore a little on the first stage," said McRae.

"We were more gentle on the next two to preserve them before attacking from then on.

Super Sainz

"This rally is still wide open and it will be a tough battle for all of us on the final leg."

Reigning world champion Gronholm remains in touch in third place, 18.6 secs behind Burns, and the Finn is likely to benefit from a lower run down the order.

Outside the top three, Ford driver Carlos Sainz made his impression when he set fastest times on six of the eight stages.

The Spaniard, aiming to reduce a five-point deficit on series leader Tommi Makinen, made up over a minute on the lead.

Harsh conditions

He ended the leg 24.6 secs behind Burns after starting the day more than 85 secs behind Gronholm.

Frenchmen Francois Delecour and Didier Auriol both dropped out with engine failure.

Alternator problems put pay to Hyundai's Kenneth Eriksson's challenge when he had to retire two kilometres into the 10th stage.

The unforgiving Cypriot terrain caused problems for German Armin Schwarz, who dropped down the top 10, but retirements helped him move back up the order.

The drivers move east into the hilly Machairas forest for the final eight stages, totalling 97.46km, before the winner is crowned in Limassol on Sunday afternoon.

Leading placings after leg two (stage 14 of 22) on the Cyprus Rally on Saturday:

1 Richard Burns (GB) Subaru three hours 43 minutes 17.3 seconds
2 Colin McRae (GB) Ford three seconds behind
3 Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Peugeot 18.6 secs behind
4 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Ford 24.6 secs behind
5 Toshihiro Arai (Jap) Subaru three minutes 46.5 secs behind
6 Freddy Loix (Bel) Mitsubishi four minutes 49.8 secs behind
7 Pasi Hagstrom (Fin) Toyota six minutes 32.1 secs behind
8 Bruno Thiry (Bel) Skoda eight minutes three secs behind
9 Alister McRae (GB) Hyundai eight minutes 26 secs behind
10 Armin Schwarz (Ger) Skoda nine minutes 43.4 secs behind