Daniel Sordo will compete on the O.K. Auto-Ralli as part of Citroen's preparations for the Rally Finland.

Citroen's Daniel Sordo is to take in Finland's O.K. Auto-Ralli next weekend, in order to get himself up to speed for the ninth round in the World Rally Championship, namely the Neste Oil Rally Finland.

The Spaniard, who is currently enjoying the summer break, will drive his usual Citroen C4 WRC car and will seek to make the most of the extra mileage ahead of the Jyvaskyla-based round, which is traditionally dominated by the locals.

Indeed experience is crucial on the 'Rally of 1000 Lakes' and 'outsiders' often require several years' experience before they can hope to run competitively.

Sordo himself has done the Rally Finland three times and while he won the JWRC class in 2005, he failed to finish in 2006 and 2007 - with engine problems sidelining him last year and a crash putting him out in '06.

The eight stages of the O.K. Auto-Ralli will therefore be an ideal opportunity for him to boost his confidence ahead of this year's 'Gravel Grand Prix', since the roads around Kouvola and Kymenlaakso region are very similar to those of the WRC encounter. Dani will just be hoping his outing on the O.K. Auto-Ralli - the fifth round in this year's Finnish Rally Championship, goes better than it did in 2007, as he crashed out then in SS5 due to an ill-judged pace note.

"I am aware of how fortunate I am to do this. I am very happy that Citroen has agreed to give me a chance to contest this event," said Dani. "The 92km of stages are very similar to those we will contest during Rally Finland, so it will be excellent practice.

"We have just completed our Rally Finland tests, and this outing will enable us to validate our final set-up in a competitive context.

"We will also see how our soft compound Pirelli tyres perform, because we have yet to use them in anger. The main aim of this event is to enhance our experience of this challenging terrain and help our build-up to the WRC event itself at the beginning of August."

Citroen boss Olivier Quesnel meanwhile believes that the extra experience Dani gains could be crucial in the battle with Ford for the manufacturers' and drivers' titles.

"It's currently very close in both the Manufacturers' and Drivers' points' tables and there's still absolutely everything to play for. To maximise our chances, we have decided to enable Dani Sordo to gain more experience of the Finnish stages," Quesnel added.