Burns angry after retirement
Reigning world champion Richard Burns has retired from the Safari Rally in the most frustrating scenario as his Peugeot 206 WRC became stranded after the end of a stage and was unable to get back to service
The Englishman's car suffered a front-left suspension failure 500 metres from the end of the 81km Kerrerie-Seyabie stage. Having managed to nurse the Peugeot for 50km on a road section, it then got stuck in metre-thick dust on the approach to the Suswa service area.
Just like Skoda's Kenneth Eriksson earlier in the day, he was stranded just 1km away from service and failed to make it back to the check point in the allotted time.
Burns was angered by the manner in which his rally ended, having worked so hard to keep the car going. "A bolt in the crossmember snapped 500m from the end of the stage," he said. "The wheel ran back into the arch but we came down a tarmac road for 50km without a problem.
"I was thinking getting into service was going to be bad," he continued, "so I tried to get a bit of speed up but the car just dug in. We took the wheel off but it made no difference.
"You risk everything, including your life, at 180kph over dips and bumps and jumps, then this... It's such a waste and an insult to everybody in the championship."
Burns had been running fifth with one stage to go of today's second leg. Citroen's Sebastien Loeb will now move into the position, with Peugeot asphalt ace Gilles Panizzi holding sixth.
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