COLIN McRae put himself on course for a second world title as he moved top of the championship standings with victory in the Corsica Rally.

Victory for the Scot, driving a Banbury-built Subaru Impreza, also put the Prodrive Subaru team - seeking a fourth straight title - into the lead in the constructors' championship.

Renault UK's two Maxi Megane cress both finished inside the top 20 with Martin Rowe, who lives in Banbury, 14th and teammate Tapio Laukkanen, who lives in Eynsham, 18th at the end of the three-day event.

Rowe said: "The whole event has been a great experience and the Megane never missed a beat."

McRae finished ahead of Frenchman Francois Delecour and McRae's Subaru teammate Italy's Piero Liatti to become the first driver to win two rounds of this year's world championship.

McRae, the 1995 world champion who also won this rally last year, overtakes Carlos Sainz of Spain at the top of the standings.

McRae said: "This is a brilliant result and puts us exactly where we want to be and Subaru back on course for their fourth consecutive world title.

"The final day was tougher because the conditions were much drier, but we were lucky to have established a good lead and didn't have to push like mad."

McRae finished the 'Rally of 10,000 corners' 27.2 seconds clear of Delecour. The win puts McRae in pole position in the title race on 24 points after six of 14 events.

Previous sport story

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.