The World Rally Championship heads to Italy for the San Remo Rally, the eleventh round of the 2001 championship. Fresh from their foray into the gravel-strewn wilderness of New Zealand, the teams move onto the first of an asphalt double-header, with the Rally of Corsica later this month.

With just four rounds of the championship remaining, the title fight could barely be any closer, with five drivers still in with a realistic chance of taking the crown. They are headed by the Finnish crew of Tommi Mäkinen/Risto Mannisenmäki (Mitsubishi) who hold the joint lead in the championship despite two 0-point scores in the last two rounds. Mäkinen took victory in the first round of the 2001 season, on the asphalt-based Monte Carlo rally, which stands him in good stead for San Remo.

New Zealand was a disappointment for the former world champion; leading the championship, he was forced to run first through the stages sweeping the gravel off the road for the later cars. He had to settle for an eventual eighth place. He now shares his championship lead with Ford Focus driver Colin McRae. Second place in New Zealand, coupled with three mid-season back-to-back wins, has lifted the Scot into a position where he can challenge for the title. Victory in New Zealand went to Subaru's Richard Burns/Robert Reid, and in so doing has moved them into third in the drivers championship, only nine points off the lead. Burns turned master tactician to judge his starting position for day two perfectly. After running up the order, he deliberately 'sandbagged' on the final stage in order to drop himself down the order for day two. His starting position of ninth gave him the ability to blast through to the front to end the second day on top. He held on during the final day to claim his first victory since the Rally of Great Britain last November.

Also in contention is the ever consistent Spanish pairing of Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya (Ford Focus), who have scored points in 8 of the 10 rounds this year, and are only one point behind Burns.

The New Zealand event was a disappointing one for the Peugeot team, losing third in the manufacturers' championship to Subaru, despite all three of their cars finishing in the top six. They finished the final day in their championship order with Harri Rovanpera (co-driver Risto Pietilainen) the best placed in third, despite not being nominated for championship points. He holds fifth overall in the standings, while team-leader, and last year's champion Marcus Gronholm, is positioned behind in sixth. The machine of Didier Auriol and Denis Giraudet lies in eighth overall. Belgian Freddy Loix, the Mitsubishi number 2 was overlooked in New Zealand in favour of Toni Gardermeister and Paavo Lukander. The latter team finished only 15th, so Loix and regular co-driver Sven Smeets, who finished 11th on that event, will be looking for points on the tarmac roads of Italy, on which Loix is a specialist.

The Hyundai team of Alister McRae/David Senior and Kenneth Eriksson/Staffan Parmander ran well in New Zealand, Eriksson leading overall after Leg one. They eventually finished ninth and tenth.

The fight for the manufacturers' championship continues in earnest in Italy, with Ford currently holding a ten-point advantage. They move ahead of Mitsubishi, who failed to score in New Zealand, while Ford scored ten points. Peugeot moved ahead of Subaru for third, ahead of Skoda, Hyundai and Citroen.

The rally begins late on Thursday 4th October and runs until Sunday 7th October.