THE WALES Rally GB roars in to action in Cardiff next Thursday evening with a capacity 90-car entry comprising of professional and amateur crews alike on the four-day, 806-mile World Rally Championship event being staged two months earlier than in recent years.

Appleby driver Dougi Hall represents Cumbria hopes in the event in which the cream of rallying's talent are expected to do battle.

Frenchman Sbastian Loeb (Citron) starts the 19-stage annual event leading the FIA World Rally Championship from Markko Mrtin (Ford), of Estonia - partnered by Herefordshire's Michael Park - with four events remaining after the Cardiff-based rally which finishes on Sunday.

But while Loeb and Martin plus drivers from five "factory" manufacturer teams fight for victory - and vital WRC points - 35 amateur crews from throughout Britain will challenge the world's best including 1990 & 92 rally winner Carlos Sainz (Citron), 2002 and 03 Wales Rally GB winner and reigning world champion Petter Solberg (Subaru) - co-driven by Welshman Phil Mills - and 2001 Rally GB winner Marcus Grnholm (Peugeot).

In the absence of Britain's former world rally champions, Colin McRae and Richard Burns, British supporters look to Mark Higgins (Isle of Man), making a one-off WRC appearance, to uphold home honours while rising stars Guy Wilks (Co Durham) and Kris Meeke (N Ireland) contest the Junior World Rally Championship.

McRae's father, Jimmy, and younger brother, Alister, also compete.

A purpose-built 1.52-mile "SuperSpecial" stage gets the rally underway in Cardiff Bay on Thursday evening (1905), the Welsh capital city chosen as rally headquarters for a fifth consecutive year.

The route features 244-miles of "competitive" time trials, 19 special stages where competitors are timed to a tenth of a second using pioneering satellite equipment.

The purpose-built "Super Special" in Cardiff Bay is used three times with the remainder of the 16 timed tests at eight different Forestry Commission owned locations in mid, west and south Wales.

The major service area for the entire event is located at Felindre near Swansea, adjacent to Junction 46 on the M4 which, for the first time, also acts as Parc Ferm where cars are securely parked overnight.

This year's event, round 12 of the FIA World Rally Championship, is once again "all-ticket" requiring spectators to purchase tickets if they wish to have a choice of attending any of the 19 special stages.

Four types of Pass are available this year ranging from a four-day World Rally Pass to a single-stage ticket. Savings can be made by purchasing tickets (credit card only) in advance by telephoning 0870 060 1764 or on the internet (www.walesrallygb.com).