Malcolm Wilson: It's bitterly disappointing.

Colin McRae and Nicky Grist's hopes of scoring the first British victory on the Monte Carlo Rally since 1968 ended in disappointment on the first special stage of today's third and final leg, handing the lead to Mitsubishi's Tommi Makinen.

McRae, the overnight leader by 3.5sec, hit problems on the famous Col de Turini test, high in the mountains above Monte Carlo, and was forced to retire after the 32.72km stage.

The electric motor on the fly-by-wire throttle system of McRae's Ford Focus RS World Rally Car failed early in the stage, the Scotsman stopped and disconnected the throttle linkage system himself to convert the fly-by-wire to the mechanical back-up.

However, the 32-year-old was unable to remove the linkage totally and, although he was able to complete the stage having dropped 13 minutes, part of the linkage was fouling on the engine, causing the throttle to jam. Although he tried to disconnect the remaining piece after the stage he was unable to do so in the time allowed and retired.

Ford Martini team director Malcolm Wilson said the electric motor, regarded as a relatively low technology part, has been used extensively in Champ Car racing in the United States and has been tested for more than 3,000km on the Focus rally car.

"It was a rare and unexpected failure. It's bitterly disappointing to retire from the lead but we've been greatly encouraged by the performance of all three Focus cars and that promises good things for the rest of the season," Wilson said.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi took a double coup on the same opening stage (SS12) of leg three, when Finnish ace Tommi Makinen took the lead in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, while team-mate Freddy Loix set a blistering pace to take the stage victory.

Makinen went on to win SS13, extending his lead over second-placed Carlos Sainz - the only remaining registered Ford driver, "I'm very sorry for Colin, it could have been nice to have a good fight with him today and the feeling is better when you win after a big battle", said Tommi.

"Turini was difficult and dangerous, especially with the spectators and the snow. We will probably take the same tyres (winter with half studs) again on the last two stages, but we must keep our concentration." Makinen warned.

With only two stages remaining, both a repetition of these two, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Makinen is well on track to notch up only the third hat-trick of victories on Rallye Monte Carlo, and the first one since Walter Rohrl took three consecutive wins between 1982 and 1984.