The 2006 FIA World Rally Championship will come to a close this weekend, with the Wales Rally GB - and the event is an extremely tough one to prepare for due to the traditionally unsettled Welsh weather.

Apart from a spectacular spectator-friendly indoor special stage in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium [which will be run on Saturday at 17.06 hours local time], all 17 tests are held on tough privately-owned gravel tracks. Most roads are in regular use, either by military vehicles on the most northerly stages or by lorries transporting logs to timber yards. Accordingly large log piles are a common sight by the edge of the tracks, adding an additional hazard for drivers.

The overall competitive distance is 356 kilometres and the first car is due onto the finish ramp inside the Millennium Stadium at 15.41 [local time] on Sunday December 3.


Special notes:

For the last two years Rally GB has taken place in September, but the shift back to a winter date increases the possibility of ice, fog, mud - and even snow. It has been unseasonably dry in the area in recent weeks, but rain is forecast in the days prior to the event and that could drastically alter the nature of the stages.

The later date means less daylight hours in the UK and rally organisers have made several changes to the route to compensate for the shorter days. The first stage of the rally, Port Talbot, is a revised version of the former Margam stage. Together with Resolfen and Rheola it forms the opening loop of stages which are run twice on Friday. Resolfen features many surface changes and takes the crews high up Rhigos Mountain, so fog could be a factor during the first run through the stage on Friday morning. Rheola is no place for a mistake: it is fast, but contains some huge, intimidating drops off the side of the road. The stage also includes the fan-friendly Walters Arena section near the end.

While leg one takes place in the undulating valleys of south Wales, the crews travel north to the fringes of the Brecon Beacons for leg two. It includes two runs through a trio of well-known tests: Crychan, Halfway and Epynt, before the day ends with the 1.1km Cardiff Super Special held inside the Millennium Stadium. An estimated 25,000 spectators will get some respite from the harsh winter weather under the stadium's retractable roof.

The third and final leg comprises two runs through Brechfa and Trawscoed, although this year the drivers will tackle the stages in the opposite direction compared to 2005. These two long stages take place on a hard-packed surface, but while the former test is fast and features some long, cambered corners, the latter is much tighter and strewn with hairpins.


FIA World Rally Championship news:

With Sebastien Loeb having clinched the 2006 FIA World Rally drivers' championship in October in Australia – despite being out injured, and the BP Ford World Rally Team having taken the 2006 FIA World Rally manufacturers' championship in New Zealand two weeks ago, there is little to decide in terms of the standings.

Indeed in the drivers', Marcus Gronholm and Mikko Hirvonen are both assured of second and third positions, and as such the biggest place still in dispute is for fourth spot, between Daniel Sordo and Manfred Stohl, the latter just one point behind his Spanish rival.