Makinen win boosts his championship

Even worse, 36 hours later, the man he fears most for the 2000 World Rally Championship cruised into Monte Carlo to bag the 10 points and get the defence of four
consecutive World Championship crowns off to the best possible start.

But if Burns was gutted and Makinen delighted, spare a thought for Colin McRae whose season began with not quite the 'Full Monte'.

His Ford Focus engine expiring in a cloud of smoke 20km from the end of the final stage to
record his ninth consecutive non-finish.

Not since Corsica last May has the Scot enjoyed the experience of handing over a final time card.

Makinen's Mitsubishi was tracked across the line by McRae's team-mate, Carlos Sainz, who had led the Scot for most of the event and who enjoyed rather better reliability from his new car.

McRae's demise promoted Subaru's Juha Kankkunen to third, with fellow Finn Toni Gardemeister taking fourth with a drive that many tipped as the performance of the rally for one so young.

Bruno Thiry's switch from works driver to the privateer Grifone Toyota team saw him enjoy a fifth place finish with Mitsubishi's Freddy Loix laying to rest the ghost of his first stage retirement a year ago and ensuring that his team was the only one to get two cars home in the points.

The final score went to Skoda with Armin Schwarz battling against recurring turbo problems during the event to finish three places ahead of his team-mate Luis Climent [who didn't quite make the points places].

The action turns to Sweden in three weeks' time where snow and ice should be a more constant factor than in Monte Carlo.