The newly crowned world champion Richard Burns insisted he will become a Peugeot driver for 2002 yesterday but he could be in for a shock. The French team indicated that Burns will have to find up to £1m of the money needed to free himself from his current contract with Subaru which has another year to run.
Peugeot have agreed with Burns a salary of £3.7m a year for two years, but emphasised that any settlement between the driver and Subaru was a private matter.
The Peugeot Sport director Jean-Pierre Nicolas said it was up to the driver to sort out the loose ends with Subaru and that he expected Burns, 30, to test a Peugeot next week. "There is no contact between Subaru and Peugeot," he said. "We in Peugeot don't know the contract between Richard and Subaru. Richard has a contract with us," he added.
Subaru indicated they wanted a clean settlement. "It's not in anybody's interest to make a mess," said Subaru's David Lapworth.
Burns himself said: "I can't go into detail but, as far as I'm concerned, I'm happy that I'll be driving with Peugeot next year."
Subaru had signed Burns for nothing from Mitsubishi in 1999 when he became a free agent. Peugeot will hope to recoup their investment from increased sales of their 206, the model which Burns will drive, from garage forecourts.
Yesterday Burns was enjoying the novel experience of being world champion in the shadow of Marble Arch. Posing for pictures, Burns was handed a Union flag and some bottles of champagne to accompany his naturally wide smile. He gamely swigged from the bottle too, despite still recovering from Sunday night's celebrations.
"I had a few drinks with my family and a few close friends, went out to dinner with the team and then went to a nightclub. But in a very British manner we got kicked out at one o'clock," he said.
"It is a fantastic feeling to win the championship. I feel very proud to have won it and I'm very happy for the team because they promised me they would get me to a world drivers' championship and that's what they did."
Even Colin McRae, his rival for the title who crashed out of the decisive Rally of Great Britain on Friday, marked the occasion. "He phoned to say well done," said Burns. "We talked about what happened in his crash and he said he'd do his best to take the title off me next year. I'll do my best to make sure he doesn't."
