Burns puts Argentine misery behind him

"I couldn't back off too much but I wasn't pushing absolutely flat out," said Burns as he tightened his grip on the event's final day. "The car has been perfect, the tyres have been perfect and the driver has been perfect as well."

Burns' joy might have turned to tragedy at the start of the final day when he collected three punctures on a stage described by Sainz as one of the worst he'd ever driven on. With only one spare on board, Burns then had to tackle the second stage of the day with two damaged tyres but, thanks to the anti-deflation mousse now fitted to modern rally tyres, Burns was able to complete the stage and still set fastest time.

Indeed, such was Burns' advantage at the end that he was quickest on all but the final stage. That honour went to World Championship leader Tommi Makinen who snatched third place from his team mate Freddy Loix as the Belgian eased off to help Makinen gain an extra championship point.

The Acropolis Rally saw a record seven manufacturer teams entered but of the 14 high-tech cars only six stayed the course over the rocky roads. Punctures and suspension failures put paid to many drivers' hopes although it was gearbox failure that ended Colin McRae's hopes of victory for Ford during the second day. McRae has probably now seen any chance of winning this year's World title destroyed.

By winning in Argentina and Greece, Subaru has silenced the critics who were baying for its blood a month ago after the Banbury team had gone nearly a year without a win. Now the pressure is on Toyota who, despite leading the manufacturers championship through consistency, have also gone 12 months in the wilderness. Next up on the championship trail is New Zealand in a month's time and Toyota needs to repeat its 1998 win to save face.