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Richard Burns has passed away

Former World Rally Champion Richard Burns has died of a brain tumour at the age of 34

Burns died in London's Wellington hospital on Friday evening with family and close friends at his bedside. He had been in a coma for some for some days. 

Richard Burns was born in Reading on January 17th 1971 and became one of Britain's leading rally drivers, securing the World Championship in 2001 and scoring a total of ten world championship victories in his short career.

Burns's big break came in 1998 with a full WRC assault as teammate to world champion Tommi Makinen in the Mitsubishi Charisma GT (Evolution V). His first major victory came on the Safari Rally that season.

He was able to challenge for the title in 1999 with a switch to Subaru machinery driving the WRC Impreza, eventually finishing second in the standings with victories in Greece, Australia and Britain.

He became the first Englishman to lead the WRC in 2000 following wins in Portugal, Kenya and Argentina, but was beaten to the title by Marcus Gronholm despite winning the final round of the championship, the Rally of Great Britain.

In 2001 he finally secured the world crown, despite starting the season poorly with just three points from his first four rounds.

Second places in Argentina, Cyprus and Finland, helped move him up the standings but what would become his final WRC victory in New Zealand forced him into real title contention.

When he finished third on home soil on the Network Q Rally of Great Britain, he took the championship when rivals Colin McRae and Tommi Makkinen retired.

Burns then moved to Peugeot in 2002 but finished fifth in the title standings after five retirements and a controversial disqualification from the Rally Argentina with an underweight flywheel.

Burns's final year of competition came in 2003, again driving for Peugeot. Six podium finishes kept him in the title hunt until the final round in Britain, however he collapsed travelling to the event with Markko Martin. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour and never drove again.

Early years

Burns's early recollections of driving was when his father Alex allowed him to get behind the wheel of a Triumph 2000 in a field.

At 11 he joined an under 17's car club which fuelled his interest, and at 15, Alex decided to take him to a Welsh rally driving school where was assessed. Two hours later he emerged stating that he wanted to be a rally driver.

By 1989, Richard had been successful in minor motorsport events and entered a Peugeot 205 into the 1990 national 205GTI challenge. Burns won the championship and was asked to drive a well-financed Group N Subaru Legacy in the Mintex National series.

He finished second, and the car's current driver and his friend David Williams decided that Burns should drive the car instead for the remainder of the series, with which Burns won the championship.

When Burns came second in the event (the winner was not entered into the series championship), Williams chose to run him for the remainder of the series. His faith in was rewarded as he went on to win the Championship.

In 1991 he started co-driving with Robert Reid, who he would compete with for the rest of his long career to win the world title in 2001.

Burns joined the crack Prodrive Subaru squad alongside Scotland's Alistair McRae and become the youngest winner of the British Rally Championship in 1993.

The Subaru WRC team said this morning they "express our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of ex-team driver Richard Burns, who lost his long battle with cancer yesterday evening."

Burns's last public appearance came in August, when he made a surprise appearance at the RallyDay 2005 event, which took place at Castle Combe Circuit.

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