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McRae optimistic after Argentinian win

Ford's Colin McRae looked like a relieved man after racking up the first points of his 2001 season by winning Rally Argentina.

The 10 points secured in Cordoba have vaulted him to third place in the standings and he's hoping his Argentine result will kick-start his championship hopes.

Fellow Brit, Richard Burns had to settle for second after pushing the Scot all the way.

Coming in to the fifth round of the World Rally Championship, McRae had posted three DNFs, so a win in South America was key getting his 2001 campaign underway. And after posting 10 of the 21 fastest stage times on the road to victory in Argentina, McRae's championship hopes have taken a turn for the better. However, his first win since the Acropolis last year didn't come easy.

"I've never been so relieved in my life," said McRae. "Richard was a pretty tough competitor. It was a bit like having Tommi Makinen behind me. But that makes the win more worthwhile."

McRae is tied with the Peugeot duo of Didier Auriol and Harri Rovanpera in the championship, but he believes a second World Championship to add to the one he secured in 1995 is not on the horizon just yet.

"I'm not thinking about the championship yet," he said, "but of course it's looking better than it did three days ago. The next two rallies are very important and we must score well again. The car is quick enough, as we've proved here.

"A win was what we wanted and a win was what we got," continued McRae, "a few more would be nice."

Co-driver Nicky Grist maintains this victory in Argentina was the best yet from McRae.

"I'm absolutely delighted," said the Welshman. "In my view this has been one of Colin's best ever drives. Even when you consider where we started on the road on day one, he's always been in control."

Although theoretically it will be at least until the Acropolis Rally before McRae can start thinking about leading the championship, Ford team boss Malcolm Wilson reckons the fight starts here.

"Colin has definitely got a chance in the championship," he said. "The car has been competitive on every event and Colin has led so many times only to hit misfortune.

Wilson went on to congratulate Ford's second driver, Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard had been suffering from terrible back pains throughout the three-day event, but still managed to score a steady third place. The three time world champ has scored on every event so far this year and has now narrowed the gap on championship leader Tommi Makinen to just five points.

"This is a fantastic result for the team and we've seen two great drives from Colin and Carlos," commented Wilson. "When I saw Carlos yesterday morning in his room, he couldn't even get up. The physio had to put his socks on for him. So third is a terrific result."

Subaru star Richard Burns seemed a little downbeat after claiming his highest finish of the season. But the Englishman can take heart that the six points he earned in Argentina sees him jump up to fourth in the standings.

"After day one, it was difficult to catch up so much time on Colin," said Burns. "I made a mistake on the first day and we had some problems, but we got what we could out of it. At least we made a fight of it."

Mitsubishi's Tommi Makinen secured fourth place after nipping ahead of Subaru's Petter Solberg in the closing stages of the rally. The Finn still retains the lead of the overall drivers' championship, and his team leads the manufacturers' standings, as the rally circus heads to Limassol in Cyprus next month.



Tommi Makinen
Carlos Sainz
Colin McRae
Didier Auriol
Harri Rovanpera
Francois Delelcour
Richard Burns
Thomas Radstrom
Gilles Panizzi
Freddy Loix
Toni Gardemeister
Marcus Gronholm
Armin Schwarz
Petter Solberg
Alister McRae


Mitsubishi
Ford
Peugeot
Subaru
Hyundai
Skoda

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