Sebastien Ogier, the runaway leader after seven legs of World Rally Championship this year, is looking to increase the gap over his rivals by successfully defending the Rally Finland title he won last year.

The Volkswagen Motorsport driver has won five of the seven rallies so far this year and leads the drivers table with 166 points, exactly 50 points ahead of his closest rival, his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.

And ahead of this week’s Rally Finland, which starts tomorrow, (Friday) Ogier said: “I am particularly proud to have won in Finland last season. However, I am not satisfied with just one win on Finnish soil – I am hungry for more!

“At the same time, I am also aware that it will be difficult to win there, as the ‘Flying Finns’ in the field (referring to Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen of M-) will be out to live up to their name at their home rally.

“In Finland you need a lot of trust in yourself and the car in order to be fast and successful. If you have that trust, then it is an absolute pleasure to drive there.”

Latvala, who did not fare well in his home rally last year, was intent on making up for his fans this time.

“Having suffered a number of set-backs in Finland last year, I am obviously out to attack again this time around and, ideally, to beat my team-mate Sebastien,” said Latvala, who has a 33-point lead over third-placed Andreas Mikkelsen of Volkswagen’s second team.

“However, you cannot count anyone out – particularly the drivers from Nordic countries.”