Burns admits: I'm not totally at one with the 206.

2001 World Rally Champion Richard Burns has admitted that he just doesn't "feel at one" with the Peugeot 206.

Speaking to British broadsheet newspaper, The Guardian, prior to his third place finish on the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, the Englishman said: "If I was totally honest and looked at how I was with the Subaru [Impreza WRC] and how I am with the Peugeot [206 WRC], then it isn't the same feeling of being totally at one with it.

"It's almost like I have to tell myself how to drive it rather than just getting in it and doing it, because you don't just drive it like you would expect to be able to drive a rally car.

"It's almost like I have to slow down. It's a very strange mindset to put yourself into. You don't chuck it around in the same way."

Burns added: "That's the way it is though, basically. Whatever I do, whatever changes I make, I always seem to end up driving it in the same way.

"However I'm not thinking about how am I going to beat Marcus [Gronholm] this year. I'm more thinking about how am I going to get more out of myself. Last year was a struggle, certainly the first half. This year I have a lot more confidence in my ability to do it."

Thus far, since leaving Subaru at the end of 2001, Burns has yet to win a rally, although he did finish second on four occasions last year and also took fifth place at the Monte Carlo Rally at the end of January. Currently he is joint second in the 2003 World Rally Drivers' Championship, with 10 points.