Subaru drivers Cody Crocker and Possum Bourne face identical challenges this weekend, completing the 403 competitive kilometres of Rally New Zealand as fast as they can, but each will have different obstacles to overcome if they are to be the quickest Group N car to do so.

Possum Bourne is tackling the seven event Production World Rally Championship (for production class cars) for the first time this year, and must compete according to the strict rules that govern that championship, including a limit on tyre numbers and service crew. He is also campaigning a brand new left hand drive MY03 Impreza WRX STi, the first time the newly homologated vehicle has contested a round of the WRC.

While Crocker will also be running a Group N Impreza WRX STi, his will be the MY02 model he took to victory just a fortnight ago at the Forest Rally, the opening round of the Australian Rally Championship. But as Crocker has not entered the Production World Rally Championship (he will only contest two WRC events ­ Rally New Zealand and Rally Australia) he faces no restrictions on the number of tyres he can use or the staff he can utilise to keep his car in top running order.

But Bourne gets to run 25th on the road as a seeded PWRC entrant while Crocker is back around 50th spot. The roads in New Zealand are tough on tyres, but tougher still on those further back on the field.

“Possum is limited to 26 tyres while we can change at each service, which means that we can use up to 32 over the rally,” Crocker said.

“These roads are very hard and they get better as more cars go over them. But the more wear they get, the dryer they get and the tougher on tyres they become. So being back in 50th place we’ll probably need more tyres than the PWRC guys.”

“So who knows how much of an advantage the tyre thing will be. But what I do know is that I’m going into this event feeling very confident and very comfortable with my car.”

“Coming out of an event like the Forest Rally you can’t wait to get behind the wheel again and I’m really hoping for a good clean run across the three days. New Zealand hasn’t been the kindest to us in the past so let’s hope that 2003 is our year.”

Bourne is lining up for his 21st consecutive start in a Subaru in Rally New Zealand, and his 22nd start in the event of his career.

In the 2002 Rally New Zealand, Bourne was the first Group N car home, although because he was not a registered PWRC competitor, the title went to Finnish driver, Kristian Sohlberg.

“I’m hoping to repeat the victory but this time take top championship points,” Bourne said.

“I’m sitting in fourth place in the Championship after Sweden and I think I have a really good chance to move up the points table here.”

“Campaigning a brand new car introduces an element of the unknown, though. We’ve had just 65 kilometres of testing, which was all really positive. The car is very good and the feel on the road is good.”

“Low down the torque is huge, but we’ve got a bit more work to do on the engine to improve the top end speed.”

“But for a brand new car, straight out of the workshop, it performed well and I’m happy with the suspension set-up.”

In line with his Championship standing, Bourne has been seeded fourth amongst the Production World Rally Championship entrants, behind Stig Blomqvist (Subaru), Karamjit Singh (Proton) and Martin Rowe (Subaru).

But several of his rivals for the 2003 title - Daniel Sola, Ramon Ferreyros, Gustavo Trelles and Giovanni Manfrinato - did not compete in the opening round in Sweden and are looking to open their account in New Zealand.

While there is a ceremonial start in Auckland on Thursday night, the first Special Stage is at 9.43am local time (7.43am Eastern Australian time) on Friday.

Leg One takes in 139.10 kilometres across nine special stages. Leg Two on Saturday sees a further seven stages across 150.43 kilometres with Leg Three on Sunday crossing six stages and 113.81 kilometres.

Follow the progress of Cody Crocker and Possum Bourne on www.subaru.com.au