Four drivers will enter this week's closing round of the
FIA World Rally Championship, the Rally of Great Britain, with a chance of lifting the top prize in the sport.
Colin McRae, Tommi Mäkinen and Richard Burns can all secure the drivers' title by winning the event (regardless of where the others finish), while fourth-placed Carlos Sainz still has an outside shot at the crown if he wins and the top three all fare badly.
Britons Burns and McRae will start as favourites, since between them they have won every 'full' Rally GB (the 1996 event was not a round of the World championship) since 1994.
The notoriously slippery Welsh forests will also play host to a thrilling conclusion to the Manufacturers' championship, with Peugeot and Ford separated by just four points as they start the final round at this evening's superspecial in host town Cardiff. With rain and fog both forecast for the days ahead, driver concentration and mechanical reliability will be more crucial than ever as the championships go down to the wire.
Peugeot enters three official cars this weekend, for Marcus Grönholm, Harri Rovanperä and Didier Auriol. The team conducted three separate tests for the event. Grönholm and Rovanperä have again opted for the five-speed gearbox, while Auriol has his preferred six-speed unit. All three cars feature three computer-controlled 'active' differentials.
Peugeot has nominated its two Finnish drivers, Marcus Grönholm and Harri Rovanperä, for manufacturers' points in Britain. Didier Auriol will thus start his final event for the team aiming for drivers' points only. Peugeot's fourth regular driver, Gilles Panizzi, will contest the event in a 206 WRC run by private team Grifone.
Marcus Gronholm said: ''We're here to try and win the manufacturers' championship for Peugeot but that means pushing as hard as possible anyway, because I'm sure Colin (McRae) will be fast and he's driving for our main rival! I've been quite fast in Britain before and the car has felt very good in testing, so I'm quite hopeful that we can be on a similar pace to Richard (Burns) and Colin.''
