Subaru world rally championship challenger Richard Burns will be at the heart of the action-packed curtain-raiser to Britain's round of the World Rally Championship.

The free 2000 Network Q Rally Show will take place in Cardiff on Thursday and Saturday afternoons.

On Thursday afternoon, all the star drivers of world rallying will be interviewed on stage in front of City Hall.

Banbury-based Subaru World Rally Team driver Burns, Britain's hope in the climactic two-way battle for this year's world driver's crown, will be on at 2pm, following his adversary Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm.

Three-times winner of the event and former world rally champion, Colin McRae, will be appearing with his Ford Focus WRC co-driver Nicky Grist at 2.30pm.

For the first year, every one of the 150 rally cars starting the event will be on display as part of the Rally Show, lined up for inspection along King Edward VII Avenue.

Entertainment on offer will include a wheel changing challenge, rally simulators, remote control cars, and funfair attractions.

The rally itself starts at 6.30pm on Thursday with the official start ceremony at City Hall from where the cars will make their way directly to the opening Super Special stage.

This year, the Sunday spectator stages have been scrapped in favour of a compact, three-leg route concentrated on the forest stages that give the rally its daunting reputation.

The start has also been moved to Cardiff, and there will be a spectator stage in the city itself designed to appeal to fans and television viewers.

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart drivers Tommi Makinen and Freddy Loix believe that this is the year when they can take his Michelin-equipped Lancer Evolution to victory in Britain, and is doubly determined after his Australian disappointment.

"I think we showed in Australia that we still have a very competitive car. We have made some little changes to the suspension, which improve traction and I think it will be very good on these slippery Welsh stages. I am looking forward to it very much," Makinen stated.

Belgians Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets have less experience of British conditions than most top World Championship crews, but they took a useful fifth place last year in their Carisma GT and hope to build on that experience.

The rally covers 1,509 kilometres before the finish on Sunday.