McRae opts for cautious approach

Warm and dry conditions have left the Western Australian roads treacherously slippery; the covering of ball-bearing-like stones will be swept clean by the frontrunners, leaving McRae, starting 14th, to take advantage of the cleaner line.

"It should be better," admitted the Scot. "Traditionally this has always been a rally which is quite badly affected by that, but we'll have to wait and see.

"This is not the kind of rally where you're going to take big risks to try and take a lot of time in the first day. This rally doesn't give much, it's so unforgiving. If you get off line and onto those small stones, they're like ice - and there are some very big trees right at the side of the road."

McRae hasn't tested the Skoda Fabia WRC he will drive since he climbed out of it after finishing seventh on September's Rally GB.

"Shakedown this morning was my first time back in the car, so I am a bit rusty," he said. "I was quite happy with the settings we had in GB, so we'll be looking for a similar sort of feeling here. When you get to the rally, you want to focus on driving the car, though -not trying to re-engineer it."

McRae's fastest time at shakedown was 4.8 seconds slower than fastest man Petter Solberg.