New suited, booted and ready to rock (www.wrc.com)

The start of a WRC season has traditionally always been about seeing the same drivers in different overalls; familiar faces wearing the wrong trousers. Remember 1999: Colin McRae out of Subaru blue for the first time? Or three years later, Tommi Makinen in the Subaru blue for the first time. It's always a bit odd, but it's always fever.

And this year's no different. Queenslander Chris Atkinson has never known a rally morning start with anything but the blues and yellows - but on Thursday January 29, he'll step into the red and white of Citroen. It'll take Atkinson and us a while to get used to seeing him in his new kit. And his new car.

Atkinson's switch from Impreza to C4 WRC remains the biggest deal done over the closed season. How long he will spend in the Citroen Junior Team machine is still being negotiated, but it will extend beyond the season-opening Rally Ireland.

There's no doubt Atkinson has the pace to win rallies. And there's even less doubt that the C4 WRC will retain its rally-winning potential into the coming year, the only question is whether this perfectly blended WRC cocktail can come up with the goods.

The C4 is, like all World Rally Cars, a tricky beast to master when you get to the limit, so Atkinson's chances of celebrating his maiden world win will depend on two things: how much testing he gets and how quickly he can get up to speed with the new car. One thing's for sure, when he fires it off the start line of SS1 in Ireland, he'll have everybody's attention.

Moving out of a C4 and into a Ford is the season's other big mover, Urmo Aava. The Estonian steps into the second Stobart Focus alongside Matthew Wilson. The combination of Aava and Wilson will make one of the youngest ever manufacturer teams at the highest level - it will also make one of the most exciting. Both drivers have massive potential and plenty of rallies to show us what they're capable of.

In the absence of Subaru and Suzuki this season, the 2009 World Rally Championship field is largely about Fords and Citroens. The factory Ford and Citroen squads remain untouched over the closed season, but Citroen's Junior Team is the focus of much eager anticipation as we count down the minutes to the start of the season in Enniskillen.

The three drivers (as well as Atkinson in Ireland and possibly beyond) in the Citroen Junior Team are: Conrad Rautenbach; Sebastien Ogier and 18-year-old Russian Evgeny Novikov. Can you imagine a more exciting prospect than these three going head-to-head in an effort to impress Citroen team principal Olivier Quesnel?

Rautenbach's year of learning is done, the Zimbabwean ready to flat out for 2009; Ogier the reigning Junior champion and natural successor to the other Sebastien and Novikov, Russia's most talked about teenage sensation. It's going to be awesome.

South American rally fans have nothing to worry about this season, either. The Munchi's Ford World Rally Team, led by Federico Villagra will be back again. And those fans of wicked car control on the stages and a classic sense of humour between them will be glad to see the bright orange Ford of Henning Solberg returning for another year. This will be the Norwegian's third campaign in an M-Sport built and run Focus.

And while the Subaru factory squad will be absent from the Service Park this year, the Japanese manufacturer will still be represented on the stages by the new Adapta World Rally Team. Based in Norway, and run with Prodrive assistance, Adapta will enter at least eight rounds this season with one Impreza for rising star Mads Ostberg and the likelihood of a second car for another top line driver. Who that will be, we don't yet know, but there are plenty of options.

Seven days into the New Year and a handful of star drivers are yet to announce their plans. After a dramatic few weeks we're still waiting to find out where 2003 world champion Petter Solberg will surface. But we're expecting news soon. Having missed the deadline for a place on Rally Ireland, the Norwegian is desperate to squeeze in an entry on his home rally in February. We're also waiting to hear from Francois Duval, P-G Andersson, Toni Gardemeister, and the now fully mobile Gigi Galli. Rest assured we'll keep you up to date with developments on wrc.com...

Not long now, though. Round one can't come soon enough - and not just for the new overalls!

Article from www.WRC.com