An action-packed 2001 Network Q Rally of Great Britain saw victory for the Peugeot of Marcus Gronholm, but as importantly, Richard Burns became the first ever English champion after his closest challengers Colin McRae, Tommi Makinen and Carlos Sainz were eliminated from the event.

McRae (Ford Focus) made the best possible start to the event, setting the fastest stage time around the Thursday night Super Special Stage in Cardiff. McRae also held the advantage in the championship stakes, one point ahead of Mitsubishi's Tommi Makinen. Richard Burns was a point further behind, but following his second place finish at the last round in Australia, he was the man to watch on the gravel roads.

Burns' teammate, the Norwegian Petter Solberg was second fastest on the opening stage, ahead of Carlos Sainz, the only other man capable of claiming the title. Burns was taking things easy to start with - holding tenth overnight, while Makinen struggled in 18th. Things wouldn't get any better for the Finn. On the first forest stage, St. Gwynno, the Finn hit a rock, damaging the wishbone and putting him out of the rally. An unhappy way to end seven years with Mitsubishi.

Also out on that stage, were an unhappy Solberg (whose fuel tank had been pumped full of air rather than fuel by the FIA's fuel pumps), and Hyundai's Piero Liatti (clutch). Also in trouble was the championship outsider Carlos Sainz, as a puncture and brake failure dropped him down the field. Colin McRae was fastest through St. Gwynno, with Marcus Gronholm and Didier Auriol upholding Peugeot honours in second and third. The championship battle took another turn just two stages later, as the charging Colin McRae - leading the rally following his 4th fastest time on SS3 (Tyle) - spectacularly crashed out of the rally.

Just over halfway through SS4, McRae misinterpreted a pace note, cutting a corner and finding a hole in the road, the Focus was launched into four end-over-end barrel rolls. McRae and co-driver Nicky Grist emerged uninjured from the wrecked Focus, but now had to hope that Burns failed to finish outside the top four, or the title would go to the Subaru driver. However, after SS4, Burns was holding third place, and was looking on course for the title.

At the head of the field, Gronholm was setting the pace following McRae's demise, with fastest times through stages three and four. At the halfway point in leg one, the Finn held an 11.9 second lead from teammate Didier Auriol. The afternoon saw Gronholm in a similar rich vein of form that had netted him a comprehensive victory on the Australian Rally, the Finn setting fastest times on three of the days four remaining stages.

Gronholm's success came at the expense of Auriol, who, despite a promising start to the afternoon's events, crashed on the days final stage, dropping one and a half minutes and falling to fourth. Burns had run consistently all day, and held second overnight, ahead of the second points-nominated Peugeot of Harri Rovanpera, who despite a slow start, was only just over 15 seconds behind Burns.

Behind the Peugeots was Sainz. Having recovered from his early problems, including a 40-second time penalty, he had moved up into fifth position by the end of the day. Alister McRae had been in the top ten stage times on all of the Leg One stages, and held sixth overnight in his Hyundai. He led Mark Higgins, in a one-off drive for the Ford team, and Skoda's Armin Schwarz. Next up were two drivers suffering gearbox gremlins - Hyundai's Kenneth Eriksson and the man who will spearhead the Korean marque's 2002 challenge - Freddy Loix (Mitsubishi).

Joining McRae, Makinen, Solberg and Liatti on the retirement list were Gilles Panizzi (whose co-driving brother Herve was slightly injured by a flying rock while trying to fix his Peugeot), Markko Martin in his Subaru (who suffered engine problems), and Roman Kresta who rolled his Skoda. Also in trouble were Bruno Thiry (Skoda) and Toshi Arai (Subaru) who were languishing in 12th and 14th positions respectively.

Leg one had been dramatic, and the second leg would have trouble living up to the drama of the first day of the final round of the 2002 championship. The most notable action of the day saw Carlos Sainz made a dramatic exit from the rally after ploughing into a spectator banking. The accident, which took place during the eleventh stage (Brechfa), occurred when the Spaniard misjudged a corner and spun his Focus WRC into an area full of spectators and officials.

Thirteen people were injured in the crash, though all but one have now been released from hospital. Sainz and co-driver Luis Moya were uninjured, but along with teammate Mark Higgins, were pulled from the event. The stage was abandoned, and the following one cancelled resulting in just three full stages on leg two. The first stage of Leg two, Resolfen, was also the longest of the rally, and resulted in yet another stage win for Marcus Gronholm - extending his overnight lead of 36 seconds by another seven. Again fastest through SS12 (Margam) and SS13 (Brechfa), the Finn would extend his lead to over one and a half minutes by the end of leg two.

Burns still held second position after two seconds and a fourth fastest time. However, Burns was now only just nine seconds ahead of Rovanpera, thanks to the Finn's time on Resolfen. Alister McRae had moved into fourth after the Ford cars were withdrawn, and capped off a solid second leg display with fastest time around the only stage run following Sainz's accident - the Super Special in Cardiff. Schwarz was second fastest through the 1.5 mile Super Special stage, but had lost out after being given an aggregate time for SS13, as was given to all drivers running behind Sainz on the road.

Didier Auriol had dropped down to seventh position after spending three minutes in a ditch on SS9. He was now behind the improving Hyundai of Kenneth Eriksson but still headed the Skoda of Bruno Thiry. Arai was now tenth, the Skoda and Subaru works cars sandwiching the private Peugeot of Belgian Gregoire De Mevius. Loix retired on stage ten after his Mitsubishi broke another gearbox, having destroyed one during the first leg.

Only four stages made up the final leg, but over 60 miles would determine the outcome of not only the rally, but also the championship. However, it was Rovanpera who was fastest through the first stage, Rheola, moving him ahead of Burns into second position, for a Peugeot 1-2. Rovanpera may have had a glimpse of victory at this point, but Gronholm dashed any hopes by setting the fastest stage times on the remaining three stages to take the victory, 2 minutes 27 seconds ahead of Rovanpera.

Rovanpera's second position gave the French marque another maximum points haul in the manufacturer's championship, and netted Peugeot the title for the second year in succession. All eyes were on Burns, however, and all he had to do was to cruise through the remaining stages to become champion. Despite the heavy downpours that made the conditions even more challenging, he cruised through to become the first Englishman to become the World Rally champion.

Although there had not been much action at the head of the field, the battle for fourth was the highlight of the day. Alister McRae held the position by over a minute and a half overnight from Schwarz's Skoda, but lost 35 seconds to the German through the first two stages as the Scot struggled without windscreen wipers. However, Schwarz would only gain another ten seconds over the remaining stages, and McRae would hold onto his best finish for six years. Schwarz's superb drive in the difficult Octavia netted him fifth, and guaranteed Skoda a similar position in the manufacturer's championship. Kenneth Eriksson, Didier Auriol and Bruno Thiry filled out sixth to eighth spots in their last events for their current teams. Toshi Arai took tenth position behind De Mevius.

Network Q Rally of Great Britain Result:
1. Marcus Gronholm/Risto Rautiainen (Peugeot)
2. Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietlainen (Peugeot) +2m 27.1s
3. Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru) +3m 15.4s
4. Alister McRae/David Senior (Hyundai) +6m 48.8s
5. Armin Schwarz/Manfred Heimer (Skoda) +7m 31.3s
6. Kenneth Eriksson/Staffan Parmander (Hyundai) +8m 11.0s
7. Didier Auriol/Denis Giraudet (Peugeot) +8m 21.1s
8. Bruno Thiry/Stephane Prevot (Skoda) +10m 55.6s
9. Gregoire De Mevius/Jack Boyere (Peugeot) +14m 17.7s
10. Toshihiro Arai/Tony Sircombe (Subaru) +15m 06.4s

Final Championship Positions: 1. Burns 44pts: 2. C McRae 42pts: 3. Makinen 41pts: 4. Gronholm 36pts: =4. Rovanpera 36pts: 6. Sainz 33pts.

Final Manufacturer Positions: 1. Peugeot 106pts: 2. Ford 86pts: 3. Mitsubishi 69pts: 4. Subaru 66pts: 5. Skoda 17pts: =5. Hyundai 17pts.