- Burns, Richard
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▪ 2006British race car driver (b. Jan. 17, 1971, Reading, Eng.—d. Nov. 25, 2005, London, Eng.), was at the time of his death the only English driver to have won (2001) the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) world rally championship. Burns became obsessed with rally driving when he was a teenager. By 1990 he had won the Peugeot Rally Series and raced in his first world championship event, and two years later he won the British national drivers' title. In 1998 (with co-driver Robert Reid) he won the Safari Rally and the first of three consecutive Rallies of Great Britain. Burns finished second in the FIA drivers' championship in 1999 and 2000 before finishing on top (with eight victories) in 2001. Contract disputes in 2002 led him to switch teams, but he failed to repeat his earlier success. Burns published his autobiography, Driving Ambition, in 2002. He was also the subject of a road-rally video game. Burns was forced to retire in November 2003 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
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Universalium. 2010.