Cyprus: Gronholm wins for Peugeot

"I'm really delighted to take this win," said Gronholm, "because it shows we have made good progress with the car in rougher conditions. It's been one of the toughest events I've ever seen but we haven't had any real problems."

McRae might still have salvaged victory had he been able to head straight to service but with one stage left to run of this morning's first group of tests, and with the Ford's power steering damaged, his 5.5s deficit grew to 50.5s and there was no way he was coming back from that.

Second looked secure until he flipped it a second time. Now he was down to seventh and having to chase Armin Schwarz to steal the final championship point on the last stage. The accident disorientated the crew and they briefly set off back up the stage the wrong way before co-driver Nicky Grist spotted that the pace notes weren't matching the bends and screamed at him to stop. As McRae lost over two minutes in the roll, he would have been quite close to a head-on shunt with fellow Ford driver Janne Tuohino! At the finish McRae admitted: "I had two good days," but he wasn't about to be drawn on today!

Fastest time on that final stage fell to Richard Burns after Tommi Makinen spun amid their head-to-head battle and so the reigning champion secured Peugeot's fourth consecutive one-two result. "Colin was strong here but you also have to be strong not to make mistakes," said Burns, further fuelling the mind games between the two British stars. "I had a lot to learn when I started this rally and I drove with that in mind. It's a fantastic result for the team and one we didn't necessarily expect."

The French team is now so far ahead in the manufacturers' championship that it will be at least the Safari Rally in July before they can be overtaken. Even that depends on either Ford or Subaru taking two one-two results and either a victory or a two-three with Peugeot failing to even score...

Going into Cyprus Ford seemed confident that it could stem the tide from France and make something of the championship battle. For a time it seemed that all McRae had to do was to stand up to win but standing up is just what he didn't do. Peugeot has shown it will be no pushover on the gravel events this year and with its asphalt performance not in doubt, you'd be a brave man to bet against a third successive title for the Lion kings.

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