Can the 'home' WRC heroes win Rally GB?

Craig Breen thinks about the question for a moment. Then he smiles. There's no point. He isn't about to fool anybody.

This is Rally GB number nine for the Irishman. That's one more than Welshman Elfyn Evans and two short of Northern Irishman Kris Meeke. The 'home' boys know where they're going this week.

All three have reason for excitement on the event.

Meeke is fighting for 'best of the rest', fourth in the champiomnship, in his first year with Toyota, while Evans ends a spell of three rallies on the sidelines after he injured his back on Rally Estonia earlier this year. Breen is also attempting a form of return, as he will get his second WRC outing of the year after being dropped by Citroen at the end of 2018.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't know the rally well," says Hyundai driver Breen. "I know the combination of everything they've done with the stages over the past three years or so and it's a rally where I feel really strong and comfortable."

Meeke started his WRC career in the Dyfi forest used on the event in 2002, and Evans lives just down the road from some of the most famous roads in rallying. So what does that mean? What is a home advantage on Rally GB?

"It's nothing to do with the roads," says Meeke. "Yes, we've done those stages a fair bit earlier in our careers, but once you get into the world championship, it's like every rally - you come back there once a year and drive them again. And you look at a driver like Jari-Matti [Latvala] - he'll be coming back here for his 18th start in Wales. That's a bit more experience of this rally than we've got."

"When we won the event a couple of years ago, the support was amazing on the road sections between the stages and then in the stages themselves. That was fantastic" Elfyn Evans

Evans agrees with that, and he has to be constantly aware of where he's treading once the route is released. Being spotted anywhere near the stages could be interpreted as illegal reconnaissance, a matter taken very seriously by the organisers.

"I just don't go near them," says Evans, "not on the bike, not at all. It's not a problem - we're not short of mountains to ride up in Wales! It's not quite the same as when we were doing the British Rally Championship and you'd maybe be in some of these stages on a BRC round or maybe a national event. We see them the same as everybody else, once a year.

"The difference with this rally for me is that I feel comfortable. There's no travel, no airport or time difference. There's no hassle - I'm just down the road and everything is really familiar.

"And, of course, there's the support. When we won the event a couple of years ago, the support was amazing on the road sections between the stages and then in the stages themselves. That was fantastic. I just hope the weather stays good for everybody out there watching."

Breen knows what M-Sport's team leader means. Thousands of fans will cross the Irish Sea to watch this week.

"It's the closest round of the WRC to home and it's great to see so many of them coming," says Breen.

"For me, Wales is a little bit of home too. Having 'Jaffa' [Welshman Gareth Roberts, Breen's co-driver who died in an accident in 2012] in the car with me for so long... the people in Wales have taken me in as one of their own and it's still a very special feeling for me to come back here.

"I love the place and I love the rally. I think it's a little bit different for Elfyn. He's so switched on in those conditions; he's one of the strongest in that environment."

Undoubtedly Evans has an ability to read the road and understand the grip. One thing he does know a little bit better is the way the weather works in this part of the world.

It's a fair assumption that we may be in for a drop of rain this week and, depending on the wind direction, where the rain's coming from, that sort of thing is where Evans's local knowledge can come in handy.

But, when the mist descends on Aberhirnant on Saturday night, it's every driver for themselves - local knowledge can't help you when you can barely see in front of the bonnet for fog.

Is it realistic to expect one of this trio to win, given Evans is the only one to have done it previously? Absolutely.

Maybe there's not quite the same expectation as when Colin McRae and Richard Burns were at the height of their powers, but those were different days as the the route moved around Britain much more. Back then, drivers didn't and couldn't have the sort of intimate knowledge of the roads they do now.

The one possible hindrance to home rule is day-one running order.

Meeke will be fifth on the road, with Evans and Breen ninth and 10th. The rule of thumb in Wales is that it's better to be higher up the order: less muddy, more grip. Meeke should be OK, but Evans and Breen could struggle.

"I'm not thinking about that," says Evans. "I started from a crap place on the road last year and was running second after the first loop on Friday. Let's just get on with it."

Couldn't agree more.