The Peugeot driver has won the Rally of Finland for the last two years and is hot favourite to make it a hat-trick on Sunday.

A win would end a poor run of form on recent rallies that has seen Scot Colin McRae slash Gronholm's lead to just seven points.

Gronholm said: "I have only taken six points from the last three rallies despite being as competitive as ever.

"I won in Argentina but had the victory taken away from me. But I have been competitive and I think the next few rallies could be favourable for us again."

Ford driver McRae has won the last two events in Greece and Kenya, but only two non-Scandinavian drivers have ever won the Rally of Finland.

The Scot and Englishman Richard Burns, who is Gronholm's team-mate at Peugeot, are expected to be those who come closest to challenging the Scandinavian domination.

But the third Peugeot driver Harri Rovanpera believes Gronholm will be very difficult to beat.

"Everyone knows Marcus is strong everywhere, but no more so than on his home event," Rovanpera said.

"They say your team-mate is the hardest person to beat.

"But I believe I can beat anybody on this rally, including Marcus, although it won't be easy.

"I will have to drive flat-out from start to finish to be able to beat him. It promises to be a super show."

Finn Tommi Makinen will attempt to get his season back on track with Subaru after a series of disappointing retirements in recent events.

Makinen's former Mitsubishi team will launch the second evolution of their Lancer WRC in the hope of improving on a poor start to the season.

Regular drivers Frenchman Francois Delecour and Briton Alister McRae will be joined by Finn Jani Paasonen.