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Hirvonen Goes after Loeb

24 October 2007

Ford's Mikko Hirvonen aims to catch Citroen's Sebastien Loeb in the Rally of Japan, which starts on Friday, 26 October. Hirvonen reckons that his teammate Marcus Grönholm will win the rally and increase his four-point lead on Sebastian Loeb, who is currently second in the WRC series.

"Beating Loeb requires an excellent performance. It is, however, possible, and that is what we are aiming for," says Hirvonen. The season’s third-to-last WRC Rally comprises 27 stages. The rally headquarters are located in Obihiro, Hokkaido. All special stages are a less than a two-hour drive from the Service Park and they are driven on fast and narrow gravel roads requiring great precision.

"On the stages, the road is lined with branches of trees and bushes so thick that you cannot see through them,” says Hirvonen, explaining the course’s challenges. "The ditches on the sides of the road are often so deep that you simply can't afford to cut corners." During practice, the roads were mainly dry. Come race time, Hirvonen hopes the roads will be a bit wetter. "The race is later in the autumn than usually. That's why – based on the most likely weather forecast – we chose tyres designed especially for rainy weather. Should the weather be exceptionally dry, we'd run out of tyres for such conditions," says Hirvonen.

Due to the time difference, in Finnish time the rally is mainly driven during the night and in the morning. The rally ends on Sunday morning (Finnish time).