Stohl: If things go perfect I could be on podium.

OMV Peugeot's Manfred Stohl has said that a podium finish might be a possibility for him on the Rally Japan.

Stohl has never competed on the event before, however as only eleven drivers' will be in WRC cars and a number of them have also yet to experience the round, including Kronos Citroen's number two driver, Daniel Sordo and Stobart VK's Matthew Wilson and Luis-Perez Companc, the Austrian is extremely upbeat. Indeed it could be a great chance for him to repeat his Rally Mexico podium and significantly add to the 24 points he has notched up thus far.

"I've been to Japan several times and especially enjoy the food but I've never competed in a rally there," said the 34-year-old, who has a wealth of experience having contested over 100 WRC events. "It is bound to be a great experience. I'm sure that we won't have any problems since I am usually good at adapting to new rallies. The Rally Japan should also suit the Peugeot 307 WRC - after all, Marcus Gronholm won last year with this car.

"We should be able to compete for points and if everything goes perfect we could even reach the podium. That would be very important for the WRC drivers' ranking."

Stohl is more than aware though that it won't be easy, especially there are ten different stages on day one and eleven on day two, something that means any drivers' having to re-start under the SupeRally will be heavily penalised - with a 5 minute penalty for each stage missed.

"It will be a very challenging rally since the gravel is rather soft and the roads are very narrow. There is almost no chance to make up for mistakes if you get off the ideal line and 27 special stages overall mean that you also lose a lot of time with the SupeRally regulation," he added. "Also there will surely be several drivers' at the top one wouldn't have counted on prior to the event [such as Toshi Ari, who will be competing in a 'third' works Subaru Impreza]."

For the record, Stohl will be the only driver in action for the OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally team in Japan and as such he will only be able to score points in the drivers' championship. Henning Solberg though will return for all five of the remaining events, when the squad will again be back at full strength and eligible to score points for the manufacturers'.