Clerk of the course Roger Laird said there had been a couple of "good dry days" earlier in the week, and some wet weather on Thursday.
"We haven't had near the rain [Dunedin has] had. The roads will be slippery but it's definitely a happening thing."
Laird was completing a reconnaissance of the stages yesterday and said he would caution any areas that needed it.
Rally crews travelling down from the top of the South Island experienced a "few diversions on the way", Nelson driver Kieran Hall (24) said.
He arrived in Gore yesterday after detours around Christchurch and Oamaru.
Hall, in his Mitsubishi Evo 5, is the top seed in a quality field for the Gore Rally.
He won the Eastern Southland Car Club's Catlins Coast Rally last year and returns this year hoping to repeat the feat.
Tyre problems sidelined him in the Rally of Canterbury, but is keen to make up maximum points in the Mainland Rally Championship and Rally Xtreme, in which he is holding third place.
A graduate of the Elite MotorSport Academy in Dunedin, Hall is looking forward to leading away a line-up of 80 cars from the Scenic Circle Croydon Hotel at 8am today.
Regan Ross, of Kaikoura, is the second seed in his Mitsubishi Evo 9.
Ross appeared set to win the Mainland Rally Series last year, only to have an accident during the Westland Rally which robbed him of any title chance.
Next up should be last year's Mainland Series winner, Christchurch's Jeff Judd, in his Subaru Impreza.
However, Judd discovered an engine problem just days before the rally, and although he will cross the start line to give himself a chance to qualify for the Rally Xtreme finals, he will most likely withdraw from the event almost immediately.
Co-leader of the Mainland Series with Judd, fourth seed Deane Buist, of Christchurch, is another keen to get some championship points in Gore.
"I need to get to the end and get a good amount of points to get ahead of Juddy," he said.
Between them Judd and Buist have several Mainland titles.
Buist was champion in 2003, while Judd won last year and in 2001.
Buist has also won the Rally Xtreme two-wheel-drive championship twice, and the Catlins and Wyndham Rallies, while Judd is the reigning Rally Xtreme champion.
Gore driver Andrew Graves is seventh seed in his Mitsubishi Evo 3 and will be battling with fellow Gore driver Paul Cross, in his recently acquired Mitsubishi Evo 4, for the Southern Rally Series title.
The 2006 Gore Rally winner Derek Ayson, of Clinton, will compete in a Ford Escort fitted with a standard engine after experiencing problems with his normal powerplant.
Duncan McCrostie, of Kaitangata, is the top-seeded Otago driver, in 16th, with Mosgiel's Chris Hey next up at 22nd in his Toyota MR2.
Dunedin's Mike Wellington is right behind him in a Mitsubishi Evo 6.
Drivers are competing in three separate championships within the rally.
The event is the third and final South Island round of the Rally Xtreme qualifying series, round three of the Mainland Rally Championship and the third and final round of the Southern Rally Series.
