He has been buoyed by his recent win in the national championship in Argentina, winning the Rally de Concepción del Uruguay by over 20 seconds. He still comfortably leads the Argentine national championship too with only two rounds remaining.

"As well as looking forward to the rally in Japan, I think it will also be very difficult. I have experience of the stages from a couple of years ago but will have to adjust my pacenotes slightly as back then it was in a Group N car. For this year in a top WRC car we will aim to be very neat on the stages and try to have a clean rally," he continued

"One of the most difficult things are the stages themselves, the roads are very fast, but narrow, with bushes very close to the side of the road. Pacenotes need to be accurate and precise.

"I am feeling good going into this event however. I have had some recent successful results in Argentina and hopefully we can score some more points for the Munchi's team in Japan."