Hyundai returns ready to fight

The team skipped last month's Safari Rally to concentrate on developing its latest evolution Accent WRC and has also drafted in four-time world champ Juha Kankkunen to bolster its regular line-up of Alister McRae and Kenneth Eriksson. But with the ninth round of the 2001 series attracting arguably the best ever entry for a WRC round and only the top six finishers scoring drivers' series points, the trio are realistic over their prospects.

"It's possible to get a point," said McRae, "but it won't be easy. There'll be a bit of attrition among the top seeds and some of the local youngsters might find it hard to challenge consistently over three days, but it's still a massive challenge.

"The cars slightly improved and this is my fifth time on the event, so we've got really good notes now, but we'll have to wait and see."

Kankkunen starts his first WRC event of the year, and has attracted enormous interest in the Finnish medai, but he believes the Accent is still a year away from showing anything like its ultimate potential.

"This is one of the events everybody wants to win," said the three-time event winner, "and I'd say it's not impossible, but to be honest, it will be very, very difficult. Next year, maybe it's possible. But you never know, there could be a surprise and we'll do what we can."

Eriksson says the car's performance in Cyprus is a pointer to a potentially strong showing in Finland and believes that Kankunnen's input will be a help too.

"You can't say our Cyprus performance will transfer directly to Finland," he noted, "because the roads here are a lot different - much sandier than Cyprus's gravel - and a lot faster. But Juha has already given a lot of useful input to the team and I think it's possible for any one of us to take a point."