Sebastien Loeb (France), Citroen DS3, World Rally Championship.
The world's most successful rally driver and eight-time world champion is a guaranteed spectator pleaser.
Last year, he crashed into a bridge but drove like a demon to regain the lead, only to lose it again with a spin late on day three.
Hayden Paddon (New Zealand), Skoda Fabia S2000, Super 2000 World Rally Championship.
Our hottest rallying export, Geraldine's Paddon is gunning for a category win and a top-10 finish overall to prove he can match the pace of the world's best - even in a less-modified machine. He knows the roads well and caned his national opposition last year, winning by more than 2min.
Ken Block (US), Ford Fiesta RS, World Rally Championship.
Famous for his stunt driving escapades, X Games and YouTube star Block has nominated Rally NZ as one event he is to contest as part of his build-up to a full-time WRC title campaign. He posted two top-five stage times in his last outing here, in 2007.
Ramona Karlsson (Sweden), Mitsubishi Evo X, Production World Rally Championship.
Along with her (equally blonde and attractive) co-driver Miriam Walfridsson, she makes up the only all-female crew in the rally. A member of the Swedish national team, Karlsson is making her first visit to New Zealand and her credentials include being voted rally driver of the year in her homeland.
Richard Mason (New Zealand), Subaru Impreza WRX STi, New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC).
This year, the Masterton flyer has dominated the last two national rounds with competent wins at Wairarapa and a start-to-finish victory at Otago. It is his eighth season with co-driving wife Sara and the duo are now the most successful in-car pairing in 37 years of NZRC history.
