Daniel Sordo has said that he will be happy with a top-five finish on the Rally Japan this weekend, as he still has a lot to learn about the event.

Sordo made his debut on the Hokkaido-based round last year, but didn't score after he was excluded from seventh place due to a seat-belt infraction.

The Spaniard though still did all the stages and that experience should be of helps as he looks to continue to improve on the 'loose'.

"I still have a great deal to learn about Rally Japan and there will also be some sections that are new to me this year, so that doesn't play in my favour,” he explained when asked about his objectives.

“I will try to use the experience I gained in 2006 though to avoid making the same mistakes. I don't know whether we will succeed in giving Seb a helping hand. We will do our best, but it is perhaps more reasonable to target a top-five finish.”

Pressed what he remembers about the event from 2006, Dani conceded that it wasn't one of the easiest: "Before the start, I tried to build up a picture of what I was going to find by asking lots of questions, especially to Sebastien. The recce didn't go too well, though, and I ended up making lots of corrections to my notes during the event, which is quite rare,” he continued.

“Finding the ideal pace wasn't easy and, despite the strengths of my car, I didn't feel confident.

“Finally, our exclusion after the finish wasn't a pleasant experience either. Even so, I have fond memories of the country and the huge crowds that turned out on the road sections and at service."

As for the two recent back-to-back asphalt events in Spain and France, Sordo added that while he was delighted with his runners-up spot in Catalunya, he wasn't so content with his third place finish in Corsica.

“I was happy with my second place finish in Salou, but I was less pleased with the way it went in Corsica, I didn't succeed in making the most of my Citroën C4 WRC's potential and I also had some problems which the technical team are looking at to try to understand what happened.

“That said, it was only my second attempt at the Tour de Corse in a WRC car, so it wasn't so bad, although I had been hoping to beat Marcus Grönholm in order to help Sébastien and Daniel [Elena]. Perhaps we will succeed in doing that in Ireland [the next asphalt event]. Before then, however, we've got Rally Japan to tackle,” he concluded.