BBC SPORT | Special Events | 2001 | World Rally 2001

Rally of New Zealand

Richard Burns has won his first World Rally Championship race since last November's Rally Great Britain.

A lowly starting position on the second day gave the Briton the ideal conditions to charge up the field, take the lead, and create a considerable margin between himself and the rest of the field by the final leg.

He eventually won the race 44.6 seconds ahead of fellow Briton Colin McRae, with Finland's Harri Rovanpera finishing in third.

Colin McRae
McRae is joint first in the championship
It was in stark contrast to the opening day when Burns had to contend with being amongst the front runners on a loose-gravel track, making it very difficult for his Subaru to gain any sort of grip.

Burns is now in third place overall, while second for Ford's Colin McRae took him into a tie for the championship lead with former champion Tommi Makinen, who left New Zealand with no points to show for his efforts.

Ford's Carlos Sainz looked for third until he spun on the final stage, letting the Peugeot duo of Harri Rovanpera and Marcus Gronholm sweep past.

To Gronholm's dismay, he was given a 10-second penalty for a jump start, sliding him back down to fifth.

The next set of races sees the drivers battle in San Remo and Corsica before returning to the southern hemisphere for Rally Australia and then back to Wales for the season's finale in Cardiff.