Burns in confidence struggle

"I was glad to see the finish and also to come away with some points," said Burns. "But I can't remember ever having such little confidence in myself and my car."

Burns was looking forward to a better showing on the season's final round in Great Britain, but his confidence for that event also took a knock when he crashed the 206 heavily in a test in Scotland last week.

"It's disappointing, but these things happen," said Burns. "We'd got the car working well for that type of event. It was good to be back on those types of stages."

Even Peugeot's tarmac expert Gilles Panizzi, Corsica winner in 2000 and 2002, doesn't think things are going to be easy in Corsica.

"Sanremo was doubtless tougher than anticipated and the opposition was very strong," said Panizzi. "But we are still in with a chance of winning the manufacturers' championship. It will take true teamwork and we must all pull together. But I believe we can do it."

Meanwhile Peugeot's reigning World Champion Marcus Gronholm - unlucky on asphalt so far this year - missed out on the test in Scotland beause of an aggravation to an old shoulder injury in Sanremo. He's expecting to be fully fit before this weekend's action gets underway.