McRae: Running order will be vital

Cars run the first leg of the rally in championship positions and that means seventh place on the road for McRae.

"It's best to start the stages as low down the order as possible," said McRae, who will start lower down the order than any of the other big names bar Peugeot's Harri Rovanpera and Subaru's Tommi Makinen.

That said, McRae wouldn't mind an even lower start number. "Seventh on the road on the first day is a good position," says the 1995 World Champion, "but starting even further back would be better."

The Rally Australia stages are covered in small stones, which make the going extremely slippery until they are swept out of the way by the cars. Rain may change that though, and the Perth-centred event this year has been moved in the calendar to a date when rain is much more likely.

Championship leader Richard Burns and McRae's team-mate Carlos Sainz (second in the points) will be hoping for a downpour. "If it rains the phenomenon does not exist and being first on the road is not a disadvantage. The conditions become the same for everybody," explained Sainz.