France's reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb said on Thursday that this year's Acropolis Rally will be the toughest yet, stressing the need to get off to a good start on the difficult circuit.

'It will be really difficult this year. More so than in previous years. To win here you need to have a good start and finish,' said the four-time world champion.

'You must take care on the parts of the road that are most brittle.'

The Acropolis Rally - the seventh round of the 2008 FIA World Rally Championships - is notoriously one of the toughest on the calendar, with twisting mountain stages, searing heat and dust clouds.

The Frenchman, who drives for Citroen, won last week's Rally of Sardinia but still trails championship leader Finnish Mikko Hirvonen of Ford.

Loeb has only been successful on the circuit once in the last ten years, while a Ford car has been triumphant on the rocky roads five times since 2000.

Hirvonen was in confident mood ahead of the Greek challenge, saying: 'The most important thing is to finish in front of 'Seb', even if I don't win the rally.

'I'm going to try and go faster than in Sardina, but this is one of the most difficult rallies, the hottest on the calendar.'

Rally of Sweden winner Jari-Matti Latvala will fancy his chances at the Acropolis Rally, with a favorable starting position.

It was here that the young Finnish driver exploded onto the world scene in 2003 coming in 10th at the tender age of 18.

First run in 1953, the Greek event - which departs from the foot of the Acropolis - is one of the longest-standing and most challenging races in world rallying, forcing drivers to compete in temperatures of over 50 degrees.

The rally will also see the debut of the new Markko Martin-developed Saburu WRC car to be driven by Norwegian Petter Solberg, which has been performing well in road tests.

In the constructors title Ford lead the field on 71pts, with Citroen in second with 64.