World champion Richard Burns has been back to the drawing board, insisting he is still confident he has the car with which to successfully defend his rally crown.

The 31-year-old Brit's campaign got off to a lacklustre start as he trailed home eighth on his Peugeot debut in the Monte Carlo rally.

Burns clearly needs more time in the 206 WRC before he is confident enough to commit himself 100 per cent on the stages.

But more worrying for Burns, is that teammates Marcus Gronholm and Gilles Panizzi were also off the pace in a car which has won the manufacturers' championship for the past two years.

Gronholm, the 2000 champion finished fifth last season, but was comfortably overhauled by the Ford Focus of Colin McRae in the final stages while tarmac specialist Panizzi was seventh, though he did hit time penalties.

Burns will not test the car again before the start of Thursday's Swedish Rally, but visited the Peugeot factory last week, looking to find the improvements he needs.

Burns said: "There are areas where we can develop and improve the car. It's good to have got plenty of kilometres in the 206 under my belt, but clearly we couldn't challenge in Monte Carlo.

"I'm still not totally comfortable with the 206 - I haven't really got enough confidence to commit to the throttle as early as I should. But that should come in time.

"We'll be working very hard in the coming weeks, but I already know the car is good enough - that's not an issue.

"I will turn up for the Swedish rally in a positive frame of mind. The test I did for Sweden went very well."

On the evidence of the first round of the 14-rally season, it is fellow Brit McRae who looks more capable of mounting a serious challenge for the driver's crown he last won in 1995.

But both will be looking over their shoulders at four-times champion Tommi Makinen, who has been rejuvenated by the move to Banbury's Subaru World Rally Team - having won at Monte Carlo after Citroen decided not to appeal against Sebastien Loeb's time penalty.

It brought him his 24th WRC victory, making him the most successful driver ever in the sport.

Makinen is the only man to win the Monte Carlo four times.

He said: "I don't really know what to say - it's obviously fantastic news and a great honour to have reached this position as a driver.

"It's just a pity I had no time to celebrate as we were in the middle of our Sweden test. So for now, it's good news but also business as usual I think.

"But maybe things will be a little better for me on the rally as there is no pressure for me to break the record - I've done it now and all of that pressure has been passed to the other drivers who must try to catch up!"