KEY POINTS:
Defending world champion Sebastien Loeb will be the driver to beat at next weekend's Rally of New Zealand after his sixth straight victory at the Rally Germany.
The Frenchman is only eight points behind championship leader Marcus Gronholm, and will have to be at his best to defeat the flying Finn on the gravel roads of the 11th round of the WRC.
Loeb missed last year's rally due to injury and will be unfamiliar with some of the roads, whereas Gronholm will be chasing a record fifth victory in New Zealand on roads he regardsas the best in the world.
"There are 68 entries from 24 countries, bringing around 600 crew to the event," said rally chairman Chris Carr. "I cannot recall such a widespread number of nationalities coming here to compete."
When the suns comes out, the stages are some of the best in the world, but if it rains, they can turn treacherous. Fast jumps, flat-out kinks, blind crests and big cambers make for a challenging drive.
There are 14 drivers entered in world rally cars and 22 in the world production car championships including current leader Toshi Arai, whose co-driver is Kiwi Tony Sircombe.
The PWRC also includes New Zealand champion Richard Mason, who has taken up the entry of second-placed Kristian Sohlberg, who could not afford to race in New Zealand.
There are two other Kiwis, Rally New Zealand scholarship winners Hayden Paddon and Emma Gilmore.
There are 32 privateer entries including American Ken Block and 19 other Kiwis, one of whom is Northland school student Kirsty Nelson.
The Possum Bourne Memorial Rally will be held with the rally, running on the second-day stages only, and is likely to attract up to 60 entries.
Former British champion Alister McRae, brother of world champion Colin, has returned to compete and it is good news for his 22-year-old Hawkes Bay co-driver Erin Kyle, who will competing in a round of the world championships. This year the Perth-based driver finished seventh in the first round of the NZ Rally championships in Otago.
Gronholm has hinted he may retire from rallying at the end of the season and is desperate to add another world title to the two he has.
Three of the remaining rounds of the championships are on tarmac where Loeb in his Citroen is almost unstoppable. That will make the fast and flowing gravel roads in New Zealand vital to the Ford-drivingGronholm's chances of winning.
The rally, in conjunction with Auckland University of Technology, has been chosen to form part of a research project by the FIA examining the socioeconomic impact of world rallying around the globe.
Organisers will be using more than 1000 volunteer marshals to control the expected 50,000 spectators.
The rally starts next Thursday with a shakedown test at Mystery Creek ahead of the ceremonial start at downtown Hamilton in the evening. The rally proper starts on Friday in the Otorohanga and Waitomo region, day two is in the Franklin District and northern Waikato and the final day in Raglan, with super special stages each day back at the rally headquarters and service park at Mystery Creek.
