Gronholm: I want to shake Loeb up a little!

BP Ford team leader, Marcus Gronholm reckons that he should be able to win the Rallye Deutschland this coming weekend, the ninth round in the 2006 FIA World Rally Championship and the first following the long summer break.

Gronholm is aware though that it will not be easy, especially given the form of Kronos-Citroen's Sebastien Loeb this season and his record on the German event - he has won it every year since it joined the WRC schedule back in 2002.

Gronholm though needs a win if he is to stand any chance of taking the drivers' title, as currently he lies second, 29 points behind the Frenchman.

"I think I can do it," said Gronholm, who won the last round of the championship, the Acropolis Rally of Greece at the start of June. "I've been close to winning previously. It won't be easy because Loeb has won four times in Germany and he is good in the slippery conditions that we often find there.

"It would be good to beat him and shake him up a little though. The Focus RS is good enough and now it is up to the driver. We tested in two locations, on Baumholder and in the vineyards, and I have good experience from that."

Gronholm will also be boosted by an engine upgrade for this round, which will increase the top-end speed on the Focus. To date he has managed three podiums from his four starts in Germany and he is hoping there won't be any rain showers.

"The rally is OK in the dry but it's awful in the wet. Conditions can change quickly and it's easy to be on the wrong tyres. Baumholder is a difficult place. It's slippery when it's dry, it's slippery when it's wet - it's slippery all the time. And a driver can't afford to make a mistake because it's so easy to hit a hinkelstein and if that happens then it's unlikely the car will go any further," he added.