Francois Duval has predicted that his chances of success in France this coming weekend will be a lot better than they were on the Rally Catalunya.

Duval went into last weekend's event tipped to do really well after his storming performance in Germany back in August, when he ran right at the front of the pack, en-route to a second place overall.

Many expected the Belgian to be able to do something similar in Spain however his second outing with the OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team didn't work out quite so good.

Indeed while he did show flashes of pace - winning one stage and setting four other top three times, he couldn't do that consistently and in the end had to settle for fifth place overall, a minute off BP Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, who took fourth.

Speaking at the finish though, Francois reckoned that P5 was the optimum considering who finished ahead of him.

"The four works drivers ahead of me gave a nearly faultless performance. Therefore they were simply out of reach for us," he explained.

"We knew that Spain would be an extremely tough rally and that a place on the podium would only be possible if Citroen or Ford got into trouble. But I believe that our chances will be better in Corsica where we will be able to compete for a top-three place once again."

Duval's team-mate, Manfred Stohl meanwhile failed to finish after he crashed out on the third test on day 1. The Austrian's Citroen Xsara WRC was baldy damaged in the incident and he will now have to use the car that had been prepared and packed up for Japan this coming weekend in Corsica.

"I am grateful to Citroen and the Kronos Racing Team for their commitment in making it possible for me to compete in France," said Stohl. "I want to thank them by reaching a good result there."