Burns plays down Peugeot chances

The Safari is traditionally a car-breaker, but despite the roads being notoriously rough, the African event also has plenty of flat-out, high-speed blasts and Burns believes the pace of the Peugeot 206 WRC, rather than any reliability issues, could be the car's Achilles' heel if he is to fight for victory.

"I don't know if the speed of the car is enough to win," the world champ told Motorsport News. "We'll be going for a good clean run. I can't put my finger on it. It's solid enough, but it struggles a bit at high speed."

Peugeot's technical chief Michel Nandan added: "We are concentrating on gaining maximum durability, even at the expense of performance. We have no idea how damaging the roads will be when they are being run three times."

The team has been testing extensively - in Kenya last week and previously in Morocco. Co-driver Reid says the testing has improved the car, but despite the British duo having won the Safari twice before, he too is cool about his chances of adding to that record this year.

"We need a good score," admitted Reid. "But everyone's looking for the same and being too confident puts pressure on yourself, especially in an event like Safari. We tested the 206WRC hard in Morocco for this rally and ourselves, Marcus and Harri all reported varying degrees of happiness with the car, but the guys who drove it last year did say it was a decent step forward."