World rally action returns this weekend with the fiftieth Rally Finland, and promises to continue an enthralling championship battle.
Of the three men at the head of the points race, the event should naturally favour New Zealand winner Marcus Gronholm as it has only ever seen a handful of 'foreign' winners in its long and illustrious history, but the Finn knows that, such is the struggle this season, honours could easily go to an outsider this year.
Gronholm's win in New Zealand - his second of the year with the Peugeot 206WRC - moved him ever closer to long-time standings leader Richard Burns, who suffered the disappointment of a second successive retirement on the event, and set up the possibility of overhauling the Englishman this weekend. The Finn's performance last year was what set him up with his works drive, and he is eager to repeat the feat to repay Peugeot for their commitment to him.
''It's the one I want to win most of all,'' he revealed after his New Zealand triumph last month, ''I feel that I've been practising for it for ten years, and now I want to win it!''
Burns knew that he could leave New Zealand still at the head of the points table no matter what fate befell him on the event but, with his cushion whittled away, he also knows that a strong performance is required this weekend. The
Subaru showed on the last round that it was still a force to be reckoned with, and there is no reason why the Burns/Robert Reid partnership cannot upset the formbook and win in Finland.
The Subaru crew are concerned, however, that new stages on this year's rally may not be to their advantage, with the locals using a variety of those included on the event in their national series. Burns and Reid finished second overall to Juha Kankkunen in 1999 and, despite the setbacks in both Greece and New Zealand, are confident of going one better this time.
