Peugeot wants to seal title in style

Peugeot's 206 WRCs nominated for makes' points currently lie first and third on Rally GB, courtesy of Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera, and Provera says he wants to maintain that dominance through the final leg's quartet of wet and foggy stages.

"As a consequence of Ford's withdrawal we are mathematically manufacturers' world champions," said Provera. "But in order to confirm that more completely, we know we still have four more stages to go. We will try to end the season and the rally in the best possible way.

"We have lions on our cars and our chests and we want to live up to that," he added.

Commenting on the accident, Provera said: "Our main concern is that the injured spectators make a full and complete recovery. It was a terrible thing to happen, but it must have been a very hard decision for Ford to take to withdraw."

Outgoing world champion Gronholm has never won the Network Q Rally GB, but says he is confident of breaking that duck, despite Richard Burns lying second, 1m35.4s behind.

"For sure we can do it if we don't have any problems," he said. "I'm sure that Richard won't try anything."