Burns sets his sights on WRC title

The Subaru driver is among the favourites to win the 2000 crown and will be aiming to end Tommi Makinen's dominance - which included four successive World rally championships.

Richard Burns - Autosport's International Rally Driver of the Year for 1999 - is hopeful his Subaru team will continue its good form from last season, when it took three wins from the last five events.

Burns is confident of success at this week's Rally of Monte Carlo.

'This rally is won by the person who makes the least mistakes,' said the 29-year-old.

'Getting tyres right really is crucial, but we've done some good testing with Pirelli and things are looking good.

'As far as the Championship goes, I've certainly got high expectations, but I'm just concentrating on getting the points at the moment.'

Burns' team-mate, Juha Kankkunen, has won the championship four times.

Having finished second in last year's Monte Carlo event, the Finn is targeting a win this time round.

'I think I'm better prepared for this year's event than I was last year, I've had more time with the team for testing and I know the car much better now,' he said.

'But this rally is not easy for sure, the conditions are always changing because of the weather - one minute it will be icy then half an hour later it's melted so we'll just have to see.'

The highly effective Subaru Impreza WRC99, using the revolutionary fly-by-wire transmission, will be driven once again this season by Richard Burns and Juha Kankkunen, and a revised car waits in the wings.

Its debut is planned for the fourth round in Portugal, but the team's technical director, David Lapworth, said: 'Whether we introduce the new car in Portugal or not will depend on how things go up to Sweden.

'The WRC99 is in such dominating form at the moment that the challenge will be judging the right balance between taking risks and looking for even more performance.'