KEY POINTS:
This year's motor Rally of New Zealand through the Waikato will largely be a journey into the unknown for most teams.
The penultimate round of the World Rally Championship from tomorrow until the 19th, will be based at Mystery Creek, with stages set in and around Hamilton.
It is the first time that a single headquarters has been used at Rally New Zealand, in a bid to offer a spectator-friendly event.
The move to the Waikato and South Auckland results in some new stages, which Clerk of the Course Willard Martin expected would provide a stern test for the drivers.
"The move to a single main service park means we have been able to construct a special stage on-site at Mystery Creek which will be used on Friday and Saturday," Martin said.
Tomorrow takes in two special stages in the Pirongia-Waitomo regions, which are repeated, before returning for the Mystery Creek special stage.
Among those stages are the 44km stage at Te Koraha, one of the longest in the world championship.
Day two involves new stages in the Franklin region near Port Waikato and Tuakau in the morning, then two afternoon stages at Te Akau which have not been used in the rally for three years.
Drivers then return for their second tilt at the special stage at Mystery Creek.
The final day boasts three stages in the morning near Raglan, which will be repeated in the afternoon. This includes the famous Whaanga Coast special stage, rated one of the most scenic in world rallying.
New Zealand world rally production category world champion, Tony Sircombe, born and raised in the little Waikato town of Otorohanga, was looking forward to a return to his old stamping ground.
Sircombe is co-driver for 2005 Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) champion Toshi Arai, of Japan.
Arai and Sircombe are fifth on the driver standings for PWRC in which top domestic drivers Richard Mason and Chris West have been given guest starts in the class.
"I'm really looking forward to this year's Rally New Zealand because it is a more traditional route with the new stages in the Waitomo-Otorohanga and Port Waikato areas," Sircombe said.
"The Waitomo-Otorohanga stages on leg one are on my hometown doorstep and it will be great to be able to relive some old memories of rallying over those roads."
While the stages in the Port Waikato area are new for all of the international drivers, Sircombe first plied his trade there nearly a quarter of a century ago.
"In 1982 I competed over the Port Waikato stage in what was my first WRC event," said Sircombe, who will be suiting up for his 82nd WRC rally in New Zealand.
Sircombe was also excited about the other stages, particularly the opening day test of the 43.88km special stage which he said could make a big difference to the end result.
The Te Akau stages in northern Waikato were faster than the southern stages and very challenging because they had a hard base road.
"You must have 100 per cent confidence on (them) to get the best performance," Sircombe said.
The Raglan area on the final day will prove decisive.
"Whaanga Coast could well make the difference between winning and losing.
"I know because last year we lost the lead on the final stage to Xavier Pons to finish second."
While the battle for the drivers' title is over, the manufacturer's title is still wide open with Ford holding a slim 16-point lead over Citroen, ensuring a keen battle between the two teams in New Zealand.
Finnish Ford diver Marcus Gronholm, world champion in 2000 and 2002, said he was looking forward to coming to New Zealand.
"It is an event I have always enjoyed and run on perhaps the best roads we have in the championship."
Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, who won the 2006 title after Gronholm crashed in Australia, is only rated as a hopeful for New Zealand after breaking his arm in a mountain bike accident in September.
Loeb is hoping he can at least take part in the recce for Rally New Zealand, even if he can't compete in the event itself.
The Subaru World Rally team for New Zealand is led by 2003 world champion Petter Solberg, the likeable Norwegian who has had his humour tested to the full in a fruitless season where he has failed to score points on seven rallies.
The WRC field includes the OMV Peugeot Norway team, the M-Sport Ford team and Citroen privateer Xavier Pons.
With the much of the edge taken off the New Zealand event, attention turns to Italian motorcycling hero Valentino Rossi who has entered as a privateer.
Five-times MotoGP champion Rossi, who finished second in this year's edition to American Nicky Hayden, will try his fortunes on four wheels after completing his MotoGP duties.
In the PWRC division, Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah (Subaru) enjoys an eight-point lead over Japan's Fumio Nutahara (Mitsubishi) in a two-horse race.
- NZPA
