OMV Kronos Citroen's Manfred Stohl will be hoping to get his first top-five finish of the season this weekend in Japan.

Stohl, who has notched up just nine points thus far this year, was on the podium four times in 2006, something he hasn't come close to matching in 2007.

With only three events left time is running out for the Austrian if he wants to do better than the sixth place finish he managed in Mexico back in March and while Japan won't be easy, with only 13 World Rally Cars entered, the signs are quite good.

Indeed last year, Manfred finished fifth in Japan and a similar result now would be well timed.

With 27 stages though, Stohl reckons the key will be to find a rhythm as quickly as possible.

"There are a lot of very short special stages on the Rally Japan. The moment you're into it the SS has already finished. Those who can adjust best to this will be top in the end," he predicted.

"But we mustn't lose our calm over this. We're here to score points. In my first Citroen-season in 2005 I had accumulated 22 points at the year's end. This year it's only nine so far which means that 13 are still missing - and I have three rallies left to score them."