Reid predicts joy in Cyprus

Richard Burns' co-driver Robert Reid has set his sights on leaving Cyprus with their World Rally Championship lead still intact. Burns holds a five-point lead going into this weekend's Rally of Cyprus, despite not winning an event for two seasons. But Reid, from Perth in Scotland, was confident of the Peugeot pair's chances ahead of last night's start. Despite mechanical problems, Burns finished fourth in Greece last time out to take advantage of his Peugeot team-mate and the reigning world champion Marcus Gronholm's latest failure to finish.

"As usual we can expect Cyprus to be tough, twisty and very warm," Reid said. "But we scored a good second here after a very eventful rally in 2002 so we've got a good idea of what will be needed."