Higgins will take a similar approach, although he does have experience of the roads in Ireland, having competed in this season's Irish Tarmac Championship.

"It's fantastic to be in the position to have a shot at the world championship, that's not something which happens every year. But, that's not to underestimate the scale of the task which stands before me,” he added.

“Winning a round of the Production Car WRC is really not an easy task, no matter where you are in the world.

“The combination of very difficult, twisty, bumpy and narrow roads and what is bound to be some fairly wet weather is going to make Rally Ireland one of the hardest rallies of the season. Let's just see what happens."

Of the rest, Fumio Nutahara, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Araujo Armindo should all be strong contenders, as should Niall McShea and 'wild cards' Colm Murphy and Alan Ring.

In total, 16 drivers' will be able to score PWRC points in Ireland.

PWRC regulars such as Toshihiro Arai, #31 – already mentioned - as well as Loris Baldacci, #33, Juho Hanninen, #36, Fabio Frisiero, #44 and Martin Rauam, #51 will skip this event as it is not one of their nominated rounds.


Other significant entries:

Around 90 crews are due to start.

All the manufacturer teams will attend the Rally Ireland - with the exception of the Munchi's Ford World Rally Team.

In total 36 WRC cars are entered, more than a third of the entry, with Britain's Guy Wilks and Kris Meeke both included in Subaru Impreza WRC cars, while four-time Irish Tarmac Rally champion, Eugene Donnelly will compete in a Skoda Fabia WRC.

Francois Duval was listed in a Citroen Xsara WRC car, but he has since had to pull out.

In addition to that and the 16 drivers' competing for the PWRC win, another 25 or so will be entered in the Group N category - including Martin Prokop, who finished third in this year's JRC.

The only female driver taking part is Emma McKinstry - daughter of Irish rally legend Kenny McKinstry. Emma has competed in the 2006 Rally Ireland candidate event and is a regular on national and international rallies.

In total 21 countries are represented on the entry list, with competitors coming from as far as Qatar, Japan and the USA, and an impressive entry of 53 competitors from the island of Ireland itself.


Route:

The rally is based in the small town of Sligo, in the north-west of the Republic of Ireland, which also hosts the single service park. Even for those drivers who competed in the candidate event here last year, there will be little advantage as more than two-thirds of the route is new and only one stage is unchanged.