Eriksson wins Thai rally

PHRAE, Thailand (Agencies): Sweden's Kenneth Eriksson won his second title of the year when he clocked the fastest time at the Rally of Thailand championship yesterday.

Driving his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Eriksson set the pace throughout the three-day race and completed the 25 special stages in a total time of two hours, 11 minutes and 12 seconds.

The Swede left his major contender British champion Richard Burns 34 seconds adrift when the cars returned to Phrae with two of the seven planned stages canceled at the final day of the 1,064km race.

Organizers canceled a total of eight out of 32 stages, six of them on Sunday, all on safety grounds.

Despite the victory, Eriksson will finish second in this year's Asia Pacific rally championship behind New Zealand's Possum Bourne with a mere point difference.

Subaru's ace driver Bourne, who had confirmed his second successive Asia Pacific title after winning the Hong Kong-Beijing rally last month, crashed out of the Thai rally on Saturday.

Behind the two Europeans was Australian Ed Ordynski on his Mitsubishi Lancer ahead of Karamjit Singh on Malaysian-built Proton Iswara. Pornsawan Siriwatt led the local challenge by finishing fifth two minutes behind Singh.

"I managed to reduce the gap by ten seconds this morning and Kenneth was still driving hard," said Burns, who kept up Subaru's challenge following Bourne's early exit. "With only five stages left on the final morning, it was always going to be a tall order," he added.

Finishing second helps Burns leapfrog Colin McRae to the third place in the overall standings.

Bourne, who could not hide his disappointment over his poor performance, was among those who congratulated Burns when he crossed the ramp at the rally finish. "I'm pleased for Richard, but it is not the way I want to seal the last rally of the year," he said.

A solid combination of Bourne, Burns and McRae this year gave Subaru team the manufacturer championship victory over another giant Mitsubishi spearheaded by Eriksson, Kenjiro Shinozuka and world driver Armin Schwarz.

The next battle ground for the automotive sport giants will be the opening round of the 1995 World Rally Championship at Monaco in January.