Burns should have won a rally: McRae

Francois Murphy, Reuters, London

Colin McRae believes his fellow Briton and rival Richard Burns should have won at least one rally this season given the superiority of his Peugeot car. The two former world champions have just one point separating them as they fight for second place behind new champion and Burns's fellow Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm going into the final round of the season.

"It's quite plain for everyone to see that the Peugeot has got the edge on everyone," McRae told reporters on Monday before Thursday's start to the Rally of Britain.

"If I had been Richard, I would be quite disappointed that I hadn't won an event this year, bearing in mind the car he has got."

McRae, who will be leaving Ford for Citroen next season, also pointed out that Burns, who was world champion last year, had accumulated fewer than half the points of Gronholm with 34 to the Finn's 77.

"It's quite a big points gap, no matter what happened during the year," the 1995 world champion said. "(Gronholm) had the reliability and he didn't. It's a big points gap for anyone in a similar type of machine."

"But I think his prospects for next year look very good," McRae added. "He's got the speed of Marcus and in a lot of places he's quicker than him. I just think he hasn't quite had the good run that Marcus has had."

McRae played down his own chances in the Rally of Britain but said Burns, who has won the event three times in the past four years, could win.

"Obviously I want to win the rally as much as anybody else wants to win it, but you've got to look at it realistically. I think that at the moment Richard has a stronger chance to win the rally," he said.

In October McRae replaced his co-driver Nicky Grist with Derek Ringer, with whom he won the 1995 title. On Monday he said it was likely that Ringer would be beside him at Citroen next year.

The 34-year-old said winning his home rally to end his four years at Ford would be far more important to him than coming second in the championship.

"...second place is first loser," he said. "The win is the important thing, and once the win's gone the spark goes out of it a bit."