Reigning champion, Nasser Al-Attiyah will be eager to add to his tally, after only scoring 2 points in Sweden, and will no doubt be pleased to be back on gravel.
Toshi Arai will be one of his main rivals, along with the likes of Fumio Nutahara, who was runner-up in the PWRC in 06, and BRC star, Mark Higgins.
Stuart Jones meanwhile begins his PWRC campaign in Mexico, having opted not to nominate the Swedish Rally, as does Leszek Kuzaj and others such as, Pavlides Spyros and Balazs Benik, the latter representing the OMV Bixxol Rally Team.
Other significant entries:
Just under-50 crews are due to start the Rally Mexico, although only 14 will be in WRC cars. As such, other than the manufacturer drivers’, only two ‘privateer’ drivers have opted to make the trip to Leon and compete in the A8 class, namely Gareth and Austin MacHale, both of whom will use Ford Focus WRCs.
In total, in addition to the 28 drivers entered under the Group N class - 17 of which will be able to score points in the PWRC - there will also be seven running in the A6 class, all using Peugeot 206s.
Route:
Mexico has the shortest route ever for a WRC event, covering just 849.55km with a remarkable 43 per cent of that being competitive. There are only small changes to last year's route, much of the distance saved courtesy of a new highway.
The event is again based in León, 400km north of Mexico City, with the stages to the north and east. It is the highest round in the series, with the opening day's Ortega test climbing through cacti-filled mountains to a breathtaking 2737 metres.
It begins on Thursday evening with a fiesta-like ceremonial start in Guanajuato, which last year drew almost 60,000 fans. The town is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, famed for its beauty and underground network of roads.
