Makinen feels weight of Gronholm victory

Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm streaked to victory in the Rally of Australia yesterday while the former world champion Tommi Makinen was stripped of fourth place after his car repeatedly failed weight checks.

Gronholm set the fastest time on the final stage to confirm his fifth win of the year. The Finn now needs just one more victory to equal the record of wins in one season set by Didier Auriol in 1992. The final event of 2002 is Rally GB, held in the mud of south Wales in two weeks' time.

Gronholm grabbed the lead on the third stage of the rally and was never overhauled. Petter Solberg in a Subaru briefly offered a challenge, but yesterday lost the initiative with his tyre choices and his charge faltered. He also lost second place as Gronholm's team-mate Harri Rovanpera overtook him thanks to his victories in three of the day's four stages.

Makinen's car twice failed a weight check. Under championship regulations, the cars must weigh a minimum of 1,230 kilograms. After special stage 22 of 24, Makinen's car tipped the scales at 1,260kg, and after the final stage at 1,271kg. However, after SS23 the car was checked at 1,222kg, eight kilos underweight. After lengthy deliberation, the stewards were left with no alternative but to exclude him from fourth place.

Britain's leading drivers Richard Burns and Colin McRae had a torrid time. Burns was sidelined on day one when his Peugeot suffered clutch failure and McRae had to withdraw on Saturday after a violent landing after a big jump smashed the Ford's radiator and dumped all the water out in one go.