BBC SPORT | Special Events | World Rally 2001 | Burns wins battle of Britain

McRae, rallying's highest paid driver, became the first Briton to win the world rally crown in 1995.

His reputation for raw speed and dashing victories - not to mention his association with a seminal computer game - have given McRae about as much media attention as a British rally driver can expect.

But the attention the Scot has received in recent years has had more to do with his fat Ford pay cheque than any great success he has achieved on the world's dirt tracks and gravel sideroads.

And that is where Burns comes in.

To say that the 30-year-old Englishman is now at least McRae's equal, is to do Burns a great disservice.

The Reading-born driver, who was McRae's understudy during the Scot's mid-1990s Subaru salad days, has arguably been the world's best rally driver over the last three years.

While Burns has ironed out the mistakes that used to rule him out as a genuine championship contender, McRae has slipped back into his previous persona of Colin McCrash.

Form and pedigree

The build-up to the Rally of Great Britain, the final leg of the 2001 championship, was dominated by the confrontation between the two Brits.

Despite the presence of two other championship challengers - Tommi Makinen and Carlos Sainz - the media glare was focused on the two men who had shared the event since 1994.

McRae held a two-point lead, and certainly made all the right noises in the build-up, but Burns had the form and pedigree to consider himself a slight favourite for the rally, and therefore the title.

Best of British: Colin McRae and Richard Burns
McRae must now share the spotlight with Burns

Having hauled himself back into contention after a poor start to the season - Burns' first podium finish did not come until the fifth stage in Argentina - Burns knew his Rally of Great Britain record gave him his best ever chance of championship glory.

A regular winner on the slippery forest tracks of south Wales throughout his early 1990's apprenticeship, Burns started the 2001 rally chasing an unprecedented fourth straight victory.

After the early retirements of championship rivals Makinen and, most significantly, McRae, Burns sensibly gave up his pursuit of outright victory, and concentrated on achieving the fourth place he needed to take the title.

Driving well within himself, Burns was able to avoid the kind of mistake that can befall a driver under pressure to push hard, which is exactly what accounted for McRae on Friday.

Peugeot move

So now the two great rivals, who value each other's driving ability without valuing each other's personal attributes, stand level at a WRC crown apiece.

But it is now clear that McRae will, at least, have to share Britain's finite amount of interest in rallying with his younger rival.

For Burns, however, the future could be even rosier.

With a contract to drive for Peugeot - winners of this season's constructors championship - next year, he can look forward to making a spirited defence of his new status as the world's number one rally driver.

He will also know where his strongest challenge will come from.

Here's to another battle of Britain in 2002.