Home advantage

Finland may be home to Lapland , Father Christmas and 300,000 reindeers, but BP-Ford Abu Dhabi driver Mikko Hirvonen is unlikely to gift his opponents victory in this weekend's rally.

Hirvonen is three points ahead of Citroen's French driver Sebastien Loeb at the midway stage of the season. And form is on his side – in Rally Finland 's 57-year history only six non-Finns have taken first place.

Hirvonen is only too aware of the expectations.

"Sebastien will be keen to win his first Rally Finland, but it's going to be difficult [for him]," he said. "I feel really confident actually. It might be because last year I had a great race here and was faster than Sebastien, so I think I can do it again. But Jari-Matti [Latvala] will be really, really fast."

Latvala, Hirvonen's team-mate at BP-Ford, has made an explosive start to his career with the reigning manufacturers' title champions. In Sweden , the calendar's only other Scandinavian rally, the Finn surprised everybody finishing top of the podium. But this weekend, he says, he is just focusing on finishing.

"Of course I want to fight for the victory, but I have not even thought about winning," said the 22-year-old. "First, I just want to finish. Let's take it step-by-step.

"I think Sebastien is very motivated because he wants a victory here; he is missing that. And also he needs the points for himself and for Citroen because he is fighting for both the drivers' title and the manufacturers' title. He will be fast, but we have the experience."

Meanwhile, Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi, who makes up the BP-Ford Abu Dhabi trio, marks one year in the WRC this weekend after graduating from the Middle East Rally Championship as part of the deal that saw Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority become title sponsors of BP-Ford. The Emirati's Finnish team-mates say they have been impressed with the driver's progress.

"I think he has been improving," said Latvala. "Even though he has experience, he doesn't have much experience of World Rally cars.

"In Monte Carlo he did very, very well until he had a problem with his suspension, likewise in Sweden ."

Hirvonen added: "I think if you look at Khalid's stage times he has done very well. Especially as he has had very little testing.

"If you don't have a good feeling for the car and then you go into a rally cold without any practice, it is very difficult to get good stage times.

"I also think he has been very wise, he has not gone out very fast and crashed the car," explained the Finn.

"He has finished every rally and is getting the kilometres that he would if he were testing. It takes a while, but I'm sure if he gets more testing he can improve his speeds even more."

Al Qassimi is keen to do better than last year's performance where he finished a disappointing 16th.

"The trees, the ditches, the rocks, you have to be very careful," he said. "There is a lot that can happen. You can be doing well and then, bang, all of a sudden you are out of the race. But I will do my best and so long as I better last year's performance I will be happy."