THE DRIVERS WHO WILL MAKE SEBASTIEN OGIER JARI-MATTI LATVALA ANDREAS MIKKELSEN

David Evans runs the rule over the men who will star in the Welsh forests Nationality: French Age: 32 Co-driver: Julien Ingrassia Car number: 1 Team: Volkswagen Motorsport WRC debut: 2008 Wales Rally GB starts: 8 Wales Rally GB wins: 3 Nationality: Finnis

Undoubtedly the man to beat. Ogier’s firmly back in the winning routine. Having gone six rallies without a victory in the middle of the season, he’s won Germany, Corsica and Spain on the bounce. And he’s going to take some stopping in Wales this week. Some consolation could be taken from the fact that even he struggled in the horribly wet weather on the day one dirt in Spain earlier this month. And if there is a chink in the Ogier armour, it’s driving flat out with the car bouncing in and out of the ruts with zero consistency of grip and feel beneath his Polo. And we’re bound to be in for a bit of that this week. Latvala badly needs a win in Wales. The Finn could well succeed in Australia next month, where he’ll benefit from his team-mate cleaning the road at the front of the field, but winning this week in a straight fight with the all-conquering Frenchman would give him a major shot of confidence ahead of next season. He’s done it before, not very often, but he has done it. There are no excuses for not finding confidence immediately, with the rally opening with his favoured Myherin stage (even if it is running in the opposite direction) and there is also no excuse for the kind of soft shunt he had in Sweet Lamb last season. Come on J-ML, your moment has arrived. Dazzle us. A decade ago, a 17-year-old Norwegian living in Ruthin (the place where Shakedown is based this week) made his WRC debut – right here on Rally GB. He arrived having won six national rallies in Wales in just a handful of months since he became legally allowed to drive on British roads. He crashed out of the 2006 event, but not before he’d posted a top-10 stage time on his maiden appearance at the highest level. Since then, Mikkelsen has taken two IRC titles and a brace of WRC event wins. He knows the conditions in Britain well and, if he can put a fairly sizeable bump in Spain behind him, he could and should feature in the podium fight. He could even be fighting for the top step.