Championship contender Sebastien Loeb takes his fight to Rally Ireland this weekend, hoping for a win that will reduce his 4 point deficit to Marcus Gronholm the championship leader.

Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena return to Ireland for the third time this year, after the Citroen teams entries in the Donegal and Cork 20 rallies to gain valuable experience of the specialised Irish roads.

These two events enabled Citroen to gauge just how virile the Irish stages promise to be. "There's no other asphalt event like it in the WRC," recognises Sebastian Loeb. "The stages in the Sligo region might turn out to be a little different to those we saw in Donegal and Cork, but we are expecting them to be very fast, narrow and bumpy, and lined with big banks. They are likely to be a very difficult cocktail, especially when you consider that it is imperative that we win. It will doubtlessly be close but we'll give it everything we've got!"

Pushing the factory drivers all the way will be a host of local talent all sporting the latest world rally cars hoping that there local Knowledge will help them on this round of the world rally championship. Kris Meeke, Eamonn Boland, Andrew Nesbitt and Austin MacHale are just a few of the names that have the potential to worry factory drivers in the top 10.

Although leading the championship Marcus Gronholm who retires from a full time Ford drive at the end of the year is under no illusions about how hard a win in Ireland will be.

"I'm really excited about the end of season.  Fighting for world titles in both the drivers' and manufacturers' series is a great position to be in and to win both would be the most fantastic way to end my career.  Of course, it's not that easy and things change quickly in this sport so nobody in the team is taking anything for granted.  There are two rallies remaining and we have to be as strong and professional as we have been all season," he added.

Gronholm won February's Galway Rally in Ireland as preparation for the WRC event but the dry and sunny weather that blessed that weekend could be far removed from the conditions this weekend.  "That rally provided an insight into the type of roads used for rallying in Ireland," said the 39-year-old Finn.  "However, until I make the recce I won't know how similar these stages are.  I've been told the roads will be fast but unforgiving and difficult to read, so ensuring the pace notes are 100 per cent accurate will be vital during the recce.

The rally starts on Thursday the 15th November with the Stormont Super Special and continues over both Saturday and Sunday.