McRae claims second win

McRae finished 16.4 seconds ahead of rival Burns

Colin McRae has notched up his second straight World Rally Championship win with victory in Cyprus.

In a repeat of the podium at last month's Rally of Argentina, the Ford Focus driver and former world champion came in ahead of fellow Briton Richard Burns and Spain's Carlos Sainz.

Finland's Tommi Makinen, who crashed out of the event on Friday, holds the overall world championship lead with a slim one-point advantage over Sainz.

McRae won by 16.4 seconds in the sixth round of the World Championship.

I pushed as hard as I could but we lost too much time being first on the road

Richard Burns

The Scot started the final leg three seconds behind English rival Burns but stormed ahead on Sunday's opening stage.

McRae's win has moved him to just seven points behind championship leader Makinen, who leads on 27 points. Burns is five points behind McRae on 15.

It is a remarkable turnaround for a man who had no points at all two events ago after a disastrous start to the season.

Subaru star Burns was clearly struggling to find the driving line on the tight, dusty roads.

"I knew this would be a difficult day and we have to go as fast as possible," said McRae.

Burns was still smarting over McRae's tactics on Saturday, when he slowed down to ensure he did not have lead the event on the final day, and thus brush the roads clean.

Burns complaints came even though he has employed this tactic - commonly used in world rallying - himself in the past.

'Pretty much perfect'

"If it had been a level playing field, I'd like to think that we'd have had a good go at Colin on the final leg," Burns said.

"But it wasn't and the stages were dusty and slippery for me. When you do not have the same level of grip as the cars behind you, there is nothing you can do.

"I pushed as hard as I could and my lines were pretty much perfect on most of the stages but we lost too much time being first on the road."

The miserable year of reigning world champion Marcus Gronholm continued when he was forced to retire with fuel pressure problems.

Burns was frustrated by the dusty conditions

Gronholm, who ended stage 18 in third position, stopped on the road section between the end of the stage and the service park regroup and could not restart his Peugeot.

The Finnish driver has scored just four points from six rounds this season and his chances of retaining his World Rally crown now look slim.

The drivers now face an 11-day break from action before they resume battle at the Acropolis Rally, based in the coastal town of Itea in Greece on 14 June.

Leading finishing positions on the Cyprus Rally

1 Colin McRae (GB) Ford five hours seven minutes 32.7 seconds
2 Richard Burns (GB) Subaru 16.4 seconds behind
3 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Ford at 26.5
4 Toshihiro Arai (Jap) Subaru at 5:38.3
5 Freddy Loix (Bel) Mitsubishi at 6:10.2
6 Pasi Hagstrom (Fin) Toyota at 9:32.5