Rallying: Makinen wins world title for Mitsubishi

Tommi Makinen yesterday succeeded Britain's Colin McRae as world champion by winning the Rally Australia.

The 32-year-old Finn secured the championship with a comfortable victory in the four-day, 974-mile rally in his Mitsubishi Lancer. McRae was fourth, his first finish for three months, while his fellow Briton Richard Burns held on to fifth place in his Mitsubishi.

McRae's Subaru team-mate Kenneth Eriksson finished second, 1min 17sec behind Makinen, and the former world champion Carlos Sainz, of Spain, was third, a further four seconds behind.

In completing his fifth win of the season, Makinen became the first driver to win more than half the rounds of the world championship in one year and the first Mitsubishi driver to win the title.

The San Remo Rally, which is the next round in the world championship, will start on 13 October.