Give Us A Break Burnsie.

[Bob Irvine]

So Richard Burns contenplated quiting Peugeot until his new engineer came along,Why?What has changed,cosidering he is still in the fastest/best car, the bottom line remains he can get nowhere near his team mate and is only leading the championship because of a stupid points scoring system.

[perminder]

i thought it was rather strange last year that after winning the world cahmapionship 2001 he couldnt even win 1 race in 2002 season

[perminder]

sorry that should have been rally not race!!!!!!!!

DOH!!!!!!!

[Matthopps]

Because it took him all year to adjust from a large Suburu where he could stretch out to a cramped little Pug where he couldn't - two completely different cars. If Richard was a 'natural' driver I'm sure he would have been able to jump straight in it and drive, in addition to this many people believe that Rich has had to teach himself how to drive quickly and thus adapting takes a lot of time. And don't forget that the competition isn't exactly amateurish is it?! (although it may semm that way at times!).

[Bob Irvine]

Good reply,although it must be said that after 18 events and all the testing that goes with it,burns still hasnt won a rally in the peugeot,and remember both of his team mates are tall and achieved victorys in the pug almost instantly.

[garcon]

Don't believe everything you read. I'm not sure how much thought Burns had really given to quitting Peugeot. And when things haven't gone well, it's always worth giving something (or someone) new a chance.

As has been discussed elsewhere, and spoken quite freely about by Burnsy himself, it does seem to boil down to driving style. I don't know whether any lack of natural ability is an issue - at WRC level that's kind of relative. But it's obvious that he hasn't been able to adjust his driving style to suit the Pug - at least not without losing some of his pace.

To be fair, I think luck has been a factor in his lack of wins so far in 2003. Though I'd obviously like him to do well, I'm kind of secretly thinking if he doesn't maybe there's more chance he'll come back home to Subaru in 2004...