The FIA World Rally Championship heads to the Far East this weekend for the eleventh of the 16-round series - Rally Japan.

The event is based in the city of Obihiro on Hokkaido, the most northerly of Japan's islands.

As the only round of the WRC to take place in Asia, it attracts hundreds of thousands of fans from all over the continent. Last year over 200,000 people attended the three days of competition, while the ceremonial start alone drew 52,000 spectators.

This year, the route features 27 stages, one more than in 2005. Changes for this year include a new Superspecial on the edge of the service park that will be used five times during the rally and once as the shakedown stage, while the mammoth 50km Kunneywa-Niueo stage has been broken into three shorter stages. After a ceremonial start in central Obihiro on Thursday night, the first competitive stage of the rally begins at 0803hrs on Friday 1 September. The podium finish is scheduled for 1500hrs at the Kita Aikoku service park six kilometres south of Obihiro.


Special notes:

Rally Japan is a highly technical event with narrow, loose gravel stages which run through dense woodland on the edge of the vast Tokachi plain that stretches inland from the Pacific Ocean.

Each leg will be a gruelling test for crews with up to 10 stages per day, ranging from short, twisty 3km sprints to fast, flowing roads more than 34km long. With stages separated by long liaison sections, drivers can be on the road for over 12 hours a day.

Changeable weather is as much a feature of Rally Japan as the long days. Although Obihiro is protected by two mountain ranges, it lies in the path of Pacific weather systems which bring high winds and torrential rain to the island. This year's rally takes place in the height of the typhoon season and it's highly likely that heavy showers will fall each day, leaving the soft ground saturated with water.

With some stages used four times, the roads will become heavily rutted as more cars drive through.


FIA World Rally Championship news:

Sebastien Loeb saw his lead at the top of the 2006 FIA World Rally drivers' championship slightly cut following the Rally Finland. The Kronos Citroen drivers' advantage was reduced from 33 points to 31 following Marcus Gronholm's fourth win of the season.

Daniel Sordo meanwhile remained third, despite not scoring there after he crashed out, while Mikko Hirvonen moved up to fourth as a result of his third place finish. Manfred Stohl dropped to fifth.

In the Manufacturers' series, Kronos Citroen saw their 23 point cushion reduced back to 15 points following BP Ford's 1-3 finish.


News from the Manufacturers' teams:

Manufacturer 1.

Kronos Total Citroen:

[Sebastien Loeb, car #1 and Daniel Sordo, car #2]

Sebastien Loeb has vowed that he will push as much as he can on day one in Japan in order to ensure he doesn't lose too much time sweeping away the loose gravel. Loeb added that while running first on the road on Friday will be a disadvantage he is going to wait and see how things pan out on before deciding whether or not to push and go for the victory. Furthermore while he has yet to win the event, the WRC has only visited the country twice to date and both times Loeb has finished second.