KEY POINTS:
Ralliart New Zealand's entry in to the 2008 FIA Production World Rally Championship (P-WRC) means the team races at home for the first time during August's Repco Rally New Zealand.
The Auckland-based team will run three Mitsubishis at the event; one for 27-year-old Finn Juho Hanninen, another for the Indonesian Rally Team entry of Subhan Aksa and a third for Christchurch's Chris West who has won free entry into the P-WRC class via a Repco Rally New Zealand scholarship.
West will also compete for New Zealand Rally Championship points during the international event.
Ralliart New Zealand is headed by former New Zealand rally champion Neil Allport, who travels to the team's six nominated rounds to oversee the team's operations. The P-WRC comprises eight of the 15 WRC events and each team nominates six in which they must compete.
"He's fast, very fast," said Allport about the front-running Hanninen, the 2004 Finnish Group N rally champion.
"We expect him to continue his dominance on the stages; it's just whether or not he can shake off this little bit of bad luck that keeps him from finishing. He loves these New Zealand roads.
"Hanninen obviously picked this event again because he has been so strong here. It suits him so well - that Finnish style of faster cambered roads is right up his street."
Hanninen finished seventh P-WRC competitor in New Zealand last year, his first year in the P-WRC.
Using a Europe-based car for the northern hemisphere rounds of the championship, the Ralliart New Zealand team has a brand new Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 for their home round.
They'll also take this car to Japan and Great Britain - the final two rounds for the season - where Hanninen previously has performed with distinction.
Allport says each car is run as a stand-alone team from the Ralliart New Zealand service area at Mystery Creek Events Centre.
"Westy [Chris West], he's in a good space now, so from our point of view all we'll need to do is continue to push him in the same direction.
"Juho is Juho - he is just 100 per cent committed to the job and whatever we give him he uses to its absolute best. And he will do his best with it - there are no two ways about that.
"We run each car with its own team of guys, which is the only approach."
Rally fans can watch teams like Ralliart New Zealand at work in the service parks at Mystery Creek over the four days of rally action.
