Four-way battle resumes

Ford fancies its chances on Cyprus as history shows the Focus has tended to stand up well to the sort of battering all the cars will get on the relatively slow, tight and rocky roads of Cyprus. Two of the four World Championship Cyprus rallies held so far have been won by a Focus, so Martin will be looking to add plenty to his current 26-point total.

Loeb (on 25 points) had his first run in the 2004-spec Citroen Xsara WRC in the last round of the championship in New Zealand, and struggled a bit for pace, but he's confident of a good showing this time. "The Xsara has improved a lot and I hope it will allow me to run in the top three," said the young Frenchman.

Gronholm by contrast has been in Peugeot's 2004 offering all season. However The 307 WRC was an all-new car, rather than a mild evolution like the Ford, Citroen and Subaru, and it has taken a while to sort out. However the Finn has been quietly accumulating points. He's now on 24 and confident that the kit is up to scratch and he is in feisty form. "Cyprus will be the next rally I win," he said after a recent test.

They will all have to beat the man who won last year's event and the most recent WRC round in New Zealand - Subaru's defending World Champion Petter Solberg (23 points). The Norwegian got his 2004 spec car two rallies ago in Mexico and since then has looked to be the men to beat on speed.

Solberg commented: "I've always done well in Cyprus and that keeps up the pressure to do well again this year, which is a good thing."

Solberg's boss David Lapworth says of Cyprus: "As a hot, rough and extremely twisty rally, Cyprus is arguably one of the toughest events of the year for the cars drivers and tyres." The leading four crews will have all that to contend with as well as competition form their own team-mates, and just possibly the fifth factory team Mitsubishi.

Gilles Panizzi and Kristian Sohlberg line up in the two Lancers and the whole team has been working extremely hard to make sure of a decent performance on Cyprus after the embarrassment of a disastrous New Zealand, when both cars ground to a halt after the first short super special stage.

The first competitive stage on the Cyprus Rally is on Friday morning.