Scotsman, Colin McRae, will have the honour of leading the strong field of international drivers in the Smokefree Rally New Zealand across the start ramp at Manukau City this week.
McRae and co-driver, Derek Ringer, won the last two years in New Zealand for the Subaru works team and will be looking to this years rally to lift him well above his sixth equal place in the championship.
Second across the ramp will be defending world champion, Didier Auriol and new co-driver , Denis Giraudet of France at the wheel of the first works Toyota Celica GT-Four.
These two leading drivers will need to keep a very close watch on the following works drivers, lead by the RAS team of Frenchman, Francois Delecour and Catherine Francios in the much improved Ford Escort RS Cothworth.
In fourth position and the first Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 3 rally cars is Sweden's Kenneth Erikkson and co-driver, Staffan Parmander.
"To have four times world champion Juha Kankkunen from Finland and his British co-driver, Nicky Grist, seeded fifth in the second Toyota Celica GT-Four is a good indication of just how strong the field really is," said Clerk of the Course, Mr M.D. (Morrie) Chandler. "All things being equal, you can throw a postage stamp over the top ten cars."
Following Kankkunen will be Belgium's Bruno Thiry and co-driver, Stephen Prevot, in the second RAS Ford Escort RS Cothworth, who will be competing in New Zealand for the first time.
Finland's Tommi Makinen and co-driver, Seppo Harjanne are next in the second Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 3, followed by New Zealand's Possum Bourne and Tony Sircombe in the second works Subaru Impreza.
Completing the top ten are the German pair of Armin Schwarz and Klaus Wicha in the third Toyota Celica GT-Four and Britian's Richard Burns and Robert Reid, the replacement for the injured Subaru driver, Carlos Sainz.
Auckland's Neil Allport and Craig Vincent are just outside the top ten in the third RAS Ford Escort RS Cothworth.
The 86 entrants confirmed as starting the rally is the strongest field ever for New Zealand's round of the FIA World Rally Championship, and boasts nine of the top ten in the championship at this half way point of the series.
Smokefree Rally New Zealand starts in Manukau City, 27 July and finishes 30 July back at Manukau after three and a half days of rallying through the central and northern parts of the North Island.
Car No. Driver 4 Colin McRae 1 Didier Auriol 7 Francios Delecour 10 Kenneth Eriksson 2 Juha Kankkunen 8 Bruno Thiry 11 Tommi Makinen 6 Possum Bourne 3 Armin Schwarz 14 Richard Burns 9 Neil Allport 12 Ed Ordynski 15 Yoshio Fujimoto 18 Jorge Recalde 19 Mohammed Bin Sulayem 16 Marcus Gronholm 17 Rui Madeira 20 Isolde Holderied 21 - as listed in the seeding list Total Distance 2056.08 km Etape 1 6 stages 73.09km special 286.87km target Etape 2 11 stages 173.33km special 655.00km target Etape 3 9 stages 208.23km special 579.38km target Etape 4 7 stages 106.24km special 534.86km target