Hirvonen thinks title is possible

The Finn will step up to the role of team leader at the BP Ford team following Marcus Gronholm's retirement, and while he knows that it will be difficult to beat Loeb, he feels it is possible.

"The season needs to be perfect if I'm going to do it, but I think (the title) is possible," said the 25-year-old. "I'm going to go for it.

"It's going to be difficult to fill Marcus' shoes but there's been a very good two years behind me now where I learned quite a lot."

Hirvonen finished third in last year's championship behind Gronholm and Loeb, but he says that he learned a lot from following their title battles during the past two years.

"I was following Marcus' battle with Sebastien very closely and I know what it takes," he said. "You can't retire from a rally, you have to be in the points all the time and attack on every stage.

"If I'm going to take the title I have to go to all the rallies and think about the win, but if I can't win rallies I need to be second."