McRae glad with second in Citroën clean sweep

Colin McRae was delighted yesterday after finishing second as his new Citroën team roared to a clean sweep in the Monte Carlo Rally.

The 34-year-old scored his best finish in nine attempts as the Frenchman Sebastien Loeb triumphed with Carlos Sainz completing Citroën's podium domination with a last-stage blast.

"I am sure the team could not have dreamt a result like this," said McRae as Citroën got their first concerted attack on the championship under way in perfect fashion.

"It's an absolutely tremendous result for the team. I always thought that we could challenge for a victory in Monte Carlo, but to have one-two-three is better than I expected for sure."

McRae believes he could have ended the 35-year wait for a British win in the event but for two bad stages on the opening day last Friday. Instead he settled for second place knowing he had little chance of catching Loeb on yesterday's final four stages in the French Alps.

The stages included two ascents on the snow-covered roads of the Col du Turini where spectators had lit fires to fend off the cold having camped overnight to get the best viewing spots for the cars as they powered past at 100mph.

"There are no ifs or buts about it, we just didn't win it," said McRae, who cut his overnight deficit of almost 68 seconds to 38sec at the end. "But second is very good and I am very happy with that. There has never been a question whether I can win the Monte. It's a case of getting it right for the three days.

"We had two bad times on day one and that's what opened the gap up and it was too big a gap to close so today was about staying second." McRae, who finished third in 1998, added: "I still didn't enjoy the rally – I can enjoy it now it's over."

His compatriot Richard Burns began his second season with Peugeot with fifth place – equalling his previous best result on the Monte – but admitted he had again struggled to get the performance he wants from the car. "I wanted to get around and finish and get in the top six," the 2001 world champion said. "I was not expecting to challenge for the win. There was no point in pushing especially hard today."

MONTE CARLO RALLY Leading final positions: 1 S Loeb (Fr) Citroën 4hrs 29min 11.4sec; 2 C McRae (GB) Citroën +38.1secs; 3 C Sainz (Sp) Citroën +52.2; 4 M Martin (Est) Ford +55.5; 5 R Burns (GB) Peugeot +3:16.5; 6 C Robert (Fr) Peugeot 5:16.7; 7 F Duval (Bel) Ford +5:17.1; 8 A Schwarz (Ger) Hyundai +6:42.3; 9 D Auriol (Fr) Skoda +7:13.8; 10 R Kresta (Cz Rep) Peugeot +7:50.9.