Burns: I must win to keep title hopes alive

The Englishman has been the runner-up in the drivers' standings for the past two years, but has suffered a disappointing start to the 2001 season. After four events the 29-year-old has notched up just three points, a demoralising 24 behind championship leader Tommi Makinen.

"I have no choice," Burns told Autosport's sister title Motorsport News. "Even if Tommi scores well on those three and I win all three, then he'll still be quite a bit in front. But it's the only chance we've got. I think that's what we have to aim for."

The next three rallies are Argentina, Cyprus and Acropolis - all of which are renowned for being tough events which should suit the Prodrive-built Impreza. The WRC2001 has suffered from poor reliability due to various engine problems on the opening events, but the Banbury-based team is thought to have identified the fault.

Time spent testing in Kenya last week has also helped to iron out early-season niggles, and by the time the recce starts in Argentina, the teams will have had more than a month to troubleshoot between events.

Despite Burns' disappointment, he is confident that the team has as much desire to succeed as he does.

"It doesn't matter whether I thump the table or not, to be honest," said Burns. "Everybody in the team knows what's going on and the team is fully motivated to sort it out. Testing for the Safari went well. I was there for three days and did about 500 miles and I'm quite pleased with the way everything went."

After four events last year, Burns was leading the standings with 22-points and two rally wins, but Prodrive technical director David Lapworth is sure that this year's car is more competitive than its predecessor.

"I don't think there is any evidence to show that this year's car is less competitive," said Lapworth. "In fact, I would say that it's more competitive than last year's car, but we just haven't had the results to prove it.

"We want to review the engine specification for the next few rallies. In hindsight, we could maybe have gone slightly down a wrong route on development for the last couple of rallies, but it's not a major issue."

Rally Argentina starts from the city of Cordoba in the north of the country on May 3.