Richard Burns, after months of negotiations, has signed a two-year deal with Peugeot, giving him what should be his best chance yet of becoming world champion.
Car manufacturers are spending more heavily than ever, lured by the prospect of the sport's improved TV coverage, and Peugeot's budget is reputed to double that of Burns' current team Subaru. Such resources should enhance his prospects but he faces formidable opposition within the new team from the Finnish world champion Marcus Gronholm, his fellow countryman Harri Rovanpera and Gilles Panizzi of France.
The quartet will contest all 14 rallies, although only Gron holm is considered capable of matching Burns consistently.
Peugeot management has also pledged that all four will be treated equally. "If we make a comparison with formula one we will have, at each start of each rally, one Schumacher in each car," said a team source.
Jean-Pierre Nicolas, Peugeot Sport's director, said: "We wanted him two years ago but it was not possible and this year he had another opportunity and we discuss with him. He has won a lot of rallies and he has a good potential to do a beautiful job with Marcus."
Burns, world championship runner-up for the past two years, commented: "I want to be with a team that gives me as good a chance as possible of winning and carrying on winning the world championship."
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