The Rally of Poland starting on Thursday will give France's five-times world champion Sebastien Loeb the chance to re-assert his dominance of the sport, following two recent glitches in his normally assured performance.

Loeb struggled to finish fourth in the Sardinia rally while in Greece he and co-driver Daniel Elena were forced to abandon after their Citroen overturned after hitting a rock on a bend, allowing Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen to win the event.

The French driver recognized that the accident which caused severe damage to the car provided Ford driver Hirvonen a chance of overtaking him in this year's championship.

"It was a pity to lose so many points in one go, but you know you are bound to commit an error at some point in the season," said the 35-year-old.

The unaccustomed imperfect performances saw Loeb garner just five points out of the two rallies, bringing his score coming into Poland to 55 points in the championship, only seven ahead of Hirvonen.

Loeb has not demonstrated such a loss of touch in the sport since 2007 when he failed to win the Swedish and Norwegian rallies.

The Finn's victory at the Greek event this year was the 70th win for the Ford stable on the world rally circuit, eight of which have been due to Hirvonen's skills at the wheel.

"I am back in the fight and the two next ones in Poland and Finland will be on fast roads which should suit me," said the 28-year-old.

"The special stages seem very quick and are similar to the ones in Finland except with fewer bumps than back home. The track is narrower and rather sandy in places so the surface will sink deeper by the second run and if it rains it will turn to mud," Hirvonen added.

The Polish rally around the forests and lakes of the Mazuria region north of Warsaw, has attacted a field of 55, among them Polish politician Krzysztof Holowczyc who is a member of the European Parliament's transport commission.

"The rally is well established for us and it will be fantastic to ride these roads I know well," said the 47-year-old legislator who is in a Stobart Ford Focus.

After Thursday's opening super special stage at Mikolajki, contestants will face a further 17 stages.

AFP

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