New Zealand is one of the classics in the WRC season and its fast, smooth and cambered gravel roads make it one of the favourites with drivers too.
It's based from the town of Hamilton, 130km south of Auckland, close to the North Island's west coast and right in the heart of some spectacular undulating countryside which makes the stages fast, flowing and similar in many ways to those of Rally Finland.
After Sebastien Loeb and Citroen moved into the lead of both FIA championships in Germany, you can expect Ford to come out fighting in New Zealand.
With an all Finnish line-up, gravel is the Ford team's preferred surface, and in the battle for the drivers' rally championship, Mikko Hirvonen is going to have to go all out if he's to stop Loeb winning a fifth world title. T
he lead in the WRC drivers' championship has changed hands six times this season between Loeb and Hirvonen. Loeb now has 76 points, four more than Hirvonen, with five rounds of the championship to run.
Of the rallies which remain this year, Hirvonen has the best chance of success on the three gravel ones, which makes New Zealand a crucial one in his title quest.
But while the championship fight rages between Hirvonen and Loeb, their respective team-mates could be in with a shout of success in New Zealand too.
Jari-Matti Latvala struggled to get to grips with the roads of Germany, but on gravel the Finn has been capable of some astonishing times this year, while Citroen's Dani Sordo has scored numerous podium finishes and has proved he's not just a smooth surface man anymore.
Also there's no doubt the Subaru World Rally Team is fired up to get either Petter Solberg or Chris Atkinson on to the winner's dais. Solberg has competed in New Zealand six times before, every year since 2002, managing three podium finishes in this time, including a win in 2004. Atkinson has started three times before and finished fourth last year.
Seeded behind Atkinson, Francois Duval replaces Gigi Galli for the Stobart Ford team. After his thrilling third place in Germany recently, the Belgian - who won Rally Australia in 2005 - could easily be a top-three contender.
Munchi's Ford team-mates Federico Villagra and Henning Solberg are seeded ninth and tenth, with Solberg just five points behind younger brother, Petter, on the points table.
Suzuki's Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson complete the manufacturer-backed team entries, with the two Citroen privateers Urmo Aava and Conrad Rautenbach wrapping up the 14 WRC entries.
Rally New Zealand also counts as the sixth of eight rounds in the 2008 FIA Production World Rally Championship. For the first time since the Acropolis Rally in May, the top two in P-WRC standings: Andreas Aigner and Juho Hanninen will come face-to-face in the race for 10 points. And it's going to be a fascinating affair.
Aigner has an eight-point lead in the standings, but after this week's North Island action, he will have a nail-biting week at home while Hanninen competes in Japan. The pair will come together for the final round in Wales, which already has the look of an absolute classic. The here and now, though is the action in Hamilton.
It's based from the town of Hamilton, 130km south of Auckland, close to the North Island's west coast and right in the heart of some spectacular undulating countryside which makes the stages fast, flowing and similar in many ways to those of Rally Finland.
After Sebastien Loeb and Citroen moved into the lead of both FIA championships in Germany, you can expect Ford to come out fighting in New Zealand.
With an all Finnish line-up, gravel is the Ford team's preferred surface, and in the battle for the drivers' rally championship, Mikko Hirvonen is going to have to go all out if he's to stop Loeb winning a fifth world title. T
he lead in the WRC drivers' championship has changed hands six times this season between Loeb and Hirvonen. Loeb now has 76 points, four more than Hirvonen, with five rounds of the championship to run.
Of the rallies which remain this year, Hirvonen has the best chance of success on the three gravel ones, which makes New Zealand a crucial one in his title quest.
But while the championship fight rages between Hirvonen and Loeb, their respective team-mates could be in with a shout of success in New Zealand too.
Jari-Matti Latvala struggled to get to grips with the roads of Germany, but on gravel the Finn has been capable of some astonishing times this year, while Citroen's Dani Sordo has scored numerous podium finishes and has proved he's not just a smooth surface man anymore.
Also there's no doubt the Subaru World Rally Team is fired up to get either Petter Solberg or Chris Atkinson on to the winner's dais. Solberg has competed in New Zealand six times before, every year since 2002, managing three podium finishes in this time, including a win in 2004. Atkinson has started three times before and finished fourth last year.
Seeded behind Atkinson, Francois Duval replaces Gigi Galli for the Stobart Ford team. After his thrilling third place in Germany recently, the Belgian - who won Rally Australia in 2005 - could easily be a top-three contender.
Munchi's Ford team-mates Federico Villagra and Henning Solberg are seeded ninth and tenth, with Solberg just five points behind younger brother, Petter, on the points table.
Suzuki's Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson complete the manufacturer-backed team entries, with the two Citroen privateers Urmo Aava and Conrad Rautenbach wrapping up the 14 WRC entries.
Rally New Zealand also counts as the sixth of eight rounds in the 2008 FIA Production World Rally Championship. For the first time since the Acropolis Rally in May, the top two in P-WRC standings: Andreas Aigner and Juho Hanninen will come face-to-face in the race for 10 points. And it's going to be a fascinating affair.
Aigner has an eight-point lead in the standings, but after this week's North Island action, he will have a nail-biting week at home while Hanninen competes in Japan. The pair will come together for the final round in Wales, which already has the look of an absolute classic. The here and now, though is the action in Hamilton.