Preview: Rally of Great Britain.

The finale of the 2000 World Rally Championship takes place this weekend, with Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm holding a nine-point advantage over Subaru's Richard Burns in the driver's championship.

The 2000 Rally of Great Britain will mark the beginning of a new era, being based entirely in Wales for the first time, with the route significantly modified from previous years.

The major changes include the scraping of the Sunday spectator stages in favour of a compact, three-leg route concentrated in the forests that have given the rally its daunting reputation. The start has also been moved to the Welsh capital of Cardiff, where there will also be a spectator stage, designed to appeal to fans and television viewers alike.

With two British drivers featuring prominently as well as the World Championship at stake, there is sure to be an electric atmosphere in the forests, no matter how hostile the weather is. Hundreds of thousands of fans are certain to brave the possible rain, mud, sleet and fog, all of which could not be bigger contrast to the warm, spring weather in Perth two weeks ago for Rally Australia.

Subaru's Richard Burns faces an uphill challenge for the championship - despite being promoted to second in Australia following Makinen's disqualification, the problem being that title rival Gronholm inherited the win and with it a potentially crucial extra two points.

"The Rally of Great Britain is one of my favourite events", explained Burns, "and I have a clear objective for his year - to win, and I know I can do it. Whatever happens to Marcus is out of my hands, and that takes a lot of the Championship pressure off."

After wins on this event in 1998 and 1999 Burns is favourite for victory again and he knows that nothing short of a hat-trick will give him the 10 points he needs. In it's 56-year history only two drivers have achieved three consecutive wins on the Rally of Great Britain. But behind the wheel of the Subaru Impreza WRC2000 on a familiar stage surface and in front of a home crowd, few would doubt the chances of another win for the British star next weekend.

Burns outlined his strategy; "I'm going to be concentrating on beating the other drivers like Colin and Carlos who I think are going to be quick here. It's excellent to be back in Wales and on my home event. There's a great atmosphere and I get loads of encouragement from the spectators on the route - I hope to give them something to cheer about!"

Prodrive's Sporting Director, David Lapworth confirmed there would be no repeat of Australia's tactical go-slow driving: "We have just got to go flat out for a win. There are no opportunities on this event for tactics!"

The Subaru Team will be running three cars in Great Britain, with Burns and Kankkunen the Team's two points nominated drivers. Young Norwegian, Petter Solberg will be using the event to get more experience of the Subaru Impreza before next season.

Rival Marcus Gronholm will have the backing of a Peugeot team that has already claimed the Manufacturers title (for the fourth time after titles in '85, '86 and the two litre cup in'95) with an unassailable 104 points - 16 ahead of nearest rival Ford.

While all at the Peugeot Sport team are playing their cards close to their chest, they will undoubtedly be looking to round off the season on a high note, as Corrado Provera explained: "Now we have secured the Manufacturers' title, we would love to follow this up in style in Great Britain where we will do everything in our power to help Marcus Gr?nholm win the Drivers' championship. If we succeed, our success rate for the year will be 200%!"

Peugeot have entered Francois Delecour together with Gronholm for Manufacturer's points, and also a third car for tarmac ace Gilles Panizzi. The team have stated that they will announce their 2001 driver line-up after the event.

Mitsubishi's outgoing World Champion, Tommi Makinen, aims to put the disappointment of Australia behind him (where he won the event only to be later disqualified over a Turbo technicality) and instead finish the year on a high, "I think we showed in Australia that we still have a very competitive car. We have made some little changes to the suspension, which improve traction and I think it will be very good on these slippery Welsh stages. I am looking forward to it very much. "

Teammate Freddy Loix, recently confirmed alongside Makinen at Mitsubishi for next year, remains cautious; "The stages are very nice, but this is always a difficult rally because of the weather. You can get a lot of rain or even snow and it is almost always very slippery. I hope we can improve on last year, but there is a lot of opposition and it will be hard work."

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short, who will be competing in his final event for Ralliart before handing over to George Donaldson, added. "The signs are that the car is achieving the potential we hoped for when we made some improvements in the middle of the season."

Short continued; "For some reason, Tommi has never had a particularly good result in Britain, which is strange, because he says he likes the stages. Perhaps now, with the confidence of beating the others for speed in Australia, he can finally go for it. I'm sure it will help that there are no Championship considerations at stake. If Freddy gets a good, clean run, he can finish in the points."

The ex-British Champion co-driver concluded, "As the Championship will still be open, there will certainly be people going hell for leather and, in British conditions, that can lead to trouble, especially in the second leg, which has more new stages."

Many of the dedicated British fans will head out to the forests of Wales to catch a glimpse of Colin McRae and Welshman Nicky Grist, McRae has already notched up three wins here on home turf including an emotional success in 1995, which gave him the world drivers' title.

McRae was quick to praise his supporters and the impact they have; "I spent my early years in the sport competing in the British forests so home advantage is a factor but the big thing in Britain is the support of the fans. It's a real boost to see all the flags and banners in the forests and the fans' support will again provide a big spur for Nicky and myself. I'm sure it will be even more of a special time for Nicky, competing in front of his fellow Welshmen."

The Ford Focus WRC driver added, "We'll be trying as hard as we can to end the year with a victory. It's disappointing to be out of the running for the drivers' and manufacturers' titles but second is still there for the taking in both. We'd like to finish the season on a high note."

The Spanish duo Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya have also had their fair share of good fortune in Wales with world titles in 1990 and 1992. "Those are my good memories of the rally. I also have bad memories when I lost the championship on the final stage in 1998 but on the whole it's a rally I enjoy. The conditions are unpredictable, the stages are quite long and demanding but a hard event is usually an enjoyable one."

Tapio Laukkanen will drive the third Focus World Rally Car fresh from his 5th place finish in Australia. The 1999 British champion's cause will be helped by considerable experience of the conditions faced, in what will be his third outing in a Focus.

"I'm still learning how to drive a World Rally Car," admitted Laukkanen. "I made a big step forward in Australia, even though my experience of the stages wasn't great. I'll feel more confident in Britain and my target is to finish in the points again."

Ford Martini team director Malcolm Wilson hasn't lost his racing spirit despite being out of the championship battle: "We're going to Wales with just one aim in mind - to win. It's been many years since Ford won four rallies in a championship season and it would be an achievement to match that. The championships are out of our reach now but that makes us no less determined to end the year on a successful note."

Alister McRae is looking forward to competing on home ground and in front of local support, especially after a promising showing in Australia; "Looking at the Accent's performance on gravel this year, we should be able to put in a good showing. I'm not saying we'll be on for a win but I like to think we should be able to push for a top six finish. And if we get a clean run and set some really good times, then perhaps we can get on the podium!"

McRae described the technical challenge facing the Hyundai Accent, "GB is one of those events which doesn't rely so heavily on engine power, and as the Accent handles very well and has good traction, we should be okay, providing the road conditions aren't too bad. However, this could become a factor, since running on the road where we are [around 17th] will mean that the stages, which will be very wet after the recent storms, will cut up and we will have less traction than the earlier cars. But we'll do our best for a good result."

Teammate Kenneth Eriksson, fresh from his fourth place in Australia, is also fired up for ending the 2000 season on a high: "I feel very good, especially after the result in Australia - it's given me a real boost," he then added cautiously, "the stages here in the UK are very different from Australia - they are faster and also, with all the recent wet weather, very muddy."

David Senior, Alister McRae's co-driver, believes the Welsh climate may play a major part in the outcome of the event; "One thing that can often affect things is fog. Because the stages are quite close to the coast and high up, then legs one and two could well see fog in the mornings. This will mean that the relationship between the driver, co-driver and pace notes becomes absolutely critical. It means that the driver has to drive completely on the notes and it also means there tends to be no margin for error."

SEAT's Didier Auriol, is hoping for the unexpected, having not featured strongly in the event in recent years, "I never feel very confident driving on the Rally GB and there are always a lot of very good drivers who do like the event and are very fast on British soil. I will try and finish in the points, but I don't think it will be possible this year. But maybe I am wrong! Like always I will try hard and maybe I will do better than I think - you never know what will happen in rallying."

Toni Gardemeister, meanwhile, is looking forward to the event; "I like driving in the UK, and we have had some good results in F2 and also set some good times with the World Rally Car. If the weather is bad, however, it will be very difficult. I don't like to drive if it's very wet because standing water and mud makes it too easy to slide off the road. Some of the Welsh forestry stages are quite fast and flowing, which I like, and some are very technical with blind crests and very tight corners."

For the first time ever SEAT will field four official Cordoba WRC's in a World Championship event, with Harri Rovanper? and Gwyndaf Evans at the wheel of the additional cars.

Rovenpera is pleased to be reunited with the team; "I am really looking forward to driving for SEAT Sport again. It will be like returning home, as I have a lot of friends in the team and I know the C?rdoba WRC very well. Although it will be very difficult, our aim will be to score the same result as I did on the Rally GB last year. For sure we will try!"

Welshman Gwyndaf Evans, feels in top form and has a clear target ahead, "My aim is to finish in the points, and that means a place in the top six. I have driven the SEAT C?rdoba WRC E3 a lot in testing this year and I know the car extremely well. I'm driving better than ever before, my confidence is high and I honestly believe this is the best chance I've ever had to score a top result on my home round of the World Championship."

Jaime Puig, SEAT Sport Team Director, described the team's arrangement for what will be their final Rally; "This is our last event in the World Rally Championship, and of course we would like to finish with a very good result. For sure we will try our best on the Rally of Great Britain, like we do on all rallies."

"For practical reasons SEAT Sport has entered all four cars, but logistically they will run as two teams. The rally team will look after Didier and Toni and the test team will run Harri and Gwyndaf. We are very pleased to be able to do this, as all four drivers have been key to the success of SEAT Sport," Puig said.

In Group N, there is still everything to fight for with Austrian Manfred Stohl aiming for his first World title, however with just a one-point lead he is under intense pressure from a vastly experienced opponent in the form of Gustavo Trelles.

"I have a bit more experience of this rally than Gustavo, because I?ve done it three times now, but I don't think that matters so much. The weather can make things very unpredictable and you need a bit of luck," Stohl said.

Uruguay's Gustavo Trelles has not contested Britain's round of the World Championship for some years, but he is more than familiar with the nature of the rally. "I will not know some of the stages as well as Manfred maybe, but I think we have a good chance anyway. I think for sure it will be a very exciting rally."

While no one can beat them in the Championship, neither Stohl nor Trelles can be confident of victory in the rally, due to the superb Group N entry. Likely front runners include; Jani Paasonen, a winner already this year, Juha Kangas and Jouko Puhakka, all driving Carisma GTs, while 1984 World Champion Stig Blomqvist and fellow Swede Kenneth Backlund will drive similar cars. Britain's best hope is Neil Simpson, who has put in some fine performances on home ground this year in his Carisma GT.

Trelles will be joined by a number of other talented South Americans, including Argentine duo Claudio Menzi and Gabriel Pozzo, and Peru's Ramon Ferreyros, all three handling Lancer Evolutions.

The Rally of Great Britain begins with the purpose-built super special stage alongside the city docks in Cardiff on the evening of Thursday 23rd November 23. The Rally totals 1,509 kilometres, with 17 stages totalling 380 kilometres, before the finish on 26 November.

The following day includes 127 kilometres of flat-out driving and begins with three stages around the Rhondda Valley before heading north to the area around Brecon and the famous Sweet Lamb stage, before returning to Cardiff overnight.

The second leg is the longest and therefore probably the hardest, as the Rally heads west from Cardiff to the area surrounding Swansea for five more stages. A second run of the Cardiff superspecial in the evening follows, totalling 166 kilometres in south Wales, including a daunting 46-kilometre run through Resolfen.

The final day, Sunday 26th, sees the crews head for Pembrey before tackling the Margram Park stage in front of the live TV cameras. The final leg will total just 84 stage kilometres.

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