World Rally Championship
Event: Wales Rally GB Venue: Cardiff Date: 4-7 December
Coverage: Daily reports on BBC Sport website

By Gareth Rhys Owen BBC Sport Wales at the Wales Rally GB

The Scandinavians are hoping to take the manufacturers' championship

Last year's World Rally Championship went right to the wire.

Sebastian Loeb clinched his fourth successive world title in the forests of west Wales.

Rally fans will be denied such a spectacle this year - with the Frenchman's name in the history books secure having already clinched a fifth championship in a row last month in Japan.

This, however, shouldn't detract from this year's race which promises to be as exciting as ever.

Much of the talk in the service area concerned the return of the "classic" stages of Hafren, Myherin and Sweet Lamb as the rally returns to mid Wales for the first time in five years.

There are some concerns amongst the drivers about the weather.

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on the 2008 Rally GB

Finnish flyer Jari-Matti Latvala described the conditions as the worst he'd ever seen - even worse than in Scandinavia.

Unsurprisingly there is a strong Scandinavian contingent at this year's rally.

Latvala and his team-mate and countryman Mikko Hirvonen will be hoping that BP Ford Abu Dhabi can pinch the manufacturers' championship from Loeb and his Citroen team.

The award for the most relaxed-looking driver goes to Carmarthen's Gareth Jones as he hopes for a top 10 finish which would certainly be a feather in the privateer's cap.

At the pre-race media conference the biggest hustle was not for Petter "Hollywood" Solberg or even leading Brit Matthew Wilson but for a part-time rally driver.

Moto GP world champion Valentino Rossi will be racing for Children in Need, even hinting at a full-time future in the sport.

But after crashing on the first morning in his only previous attempt at Wales Rally GB in 2001, Rossi's main aim will be to get his car across the finish line.

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