Loeb: Not vital to beat Hirvonen in NZ

Citroen driver Loeb leads the Ford man by four points ahead of the 11th round of the series in New Zealand.

While Hirvonen is going all-out for the win, knowing he has to beat the four-time champion in order to maintain his own hopes of clinching a maiden world championship, Loeb's sights are firmly set on finishing.

"If I retire from this rally and he [Hirvonen] wins, he would be six points in the lead," said Loeb. "This is a very important time in the championship and finishing is everything right now. It's very delicately balanced.

"Winning here would be nice, but the main thing is for me to make sure I'm still in the lead of the championship. We have two more asphalt rallies to come and on those events Dani [Sordo, Citroen teammate] and I were strong."

The one thing which is concerning Loeb is the amount of loose gravel on the New Zealand roads, which is inevitably going to lead to a tactical approach from Ford.

Loeb said: "I'm first on the road. There's nothing I can do. Whatever I do, they can match it behind. But it is going to be tough, there's a lot of gravel around and sure, being number one [on the road] is not the good place."