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Hirvonen sets sights on Loeb

Auckland - Finland's Mikko Hirvonen is hoping for a change of luck to close the yawning gap on reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb in the New Zealand leg of the World Rally Championship starting on Friday.

After four rounds of the 13-race WRC, France's Loeb has built up an imposing lead and will leave New Zealand still at the top of the standings whatever the result after three days of racing here.

But Hirvonen, who won the season opener in Sweden for Ford in February, is keen to overcome the frustration of losing last year's championship to Loeb by one point.

Misfortune struck the Finn in Rally New Zealand in 2008 as he was leading into the final section, when a puncture saw him slip into third place, an incident he described as one of the biggest disappointments of his career.

But Rally New Zealand is one of his favourites and Hirvonen hopes he can make up some lost ground.

"It started well with the win in Sweden, but the last two rallies I've made mistakes, especially in Jordan, where I made a big mistake," he said, referring to a crash in the third rally of the season.

"I still don't understand how that happened but it's a long season and we can still fight back."

"The stages (in New Zealand) are in a good condition and there's a really nice rhythm to them, so it's one of our favourites every year."

The New Zealand rally is returning to the WRC calendar after an absence in 2009 and the revised route in the top part of the North Island totals just under 400km, making it the longest WRC round since 2004.

Loeb currently has 93 points at the top of the driver standings after wins in his Citroen in the last three rounds in Mexico, Jordan and Turkey.

Norway's Petter Solberg is second with 53 points, one ahead of Hirvonen.

"Everything's gone well for us in the early part of the season," Loeb said. "The fact that our main rivals have shared the runner-up spots has helped us to open up a gap in the overall classification."

But he is taking nothing for granted in New Zealand.

"Even if we've won the New Zealand rally on two occasions I'm still being a bit cautious, as our rivals are usually very strong on this type of surface," he said.

Loeb said he is another fan of the relatively fast and smooth gravel roads on the New Zealand course.

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