Canterbury, the New Zealand championship's third round, was added to the national calendar in 2013.
This year's 153km of special stage competition is considerably different due to the unavailability of Ashley Forest after recent wind damage.
The route has been revised and now consists of two forest stages, run twice, and four public road stages in the North Canterbury area.
Masterton driver Richard Mason, leading the NZRC on 84 points, will lead the field into darkness at 6pm. He and co-driving wife Sara have enjoyed a perfect start to the season with two wins from two rounds, and will again be the benchmark for the chasing pack in their Subaru.
Emma Gilmour proved at her home Rally of Otago earlier this month her Suzuki Swift Maxi was capable of running hot on Mason's heels.
Her Dunedin team has had a busy few weeks repairing the engine damage it sustained late in the two-day event while she was in second place overall.
''I want to just continue on from Otago and keep improving the car's handling and pace, so I can challenge Richard's stage times,'' Gilmour said.
Also keen to usurp Mason's dominance are two drivers possibly more familiar with the Canterbury stages and conditions than their rivals.
The first is Rangiora-based Matt Summerfield (22), second in the NZRC (39 points) after maintaining solid speed and consistency in the opening two rounds. The other is fellow Canterbury driver and former national junior champion Matt Jansen, fresh off a third overall at Otago and also driving a Subaru.
In his first full-length event in his new Mazda 2 Maxi rally car, Aucklander Andrew Hawkeswood managed fourth place overall in the most recent round and will be looking to top the time sheets again in Canterbury.
Third in the NZRC is rookie driver Lance Williams (19), of Te Aroha, eight points behind Summerfield.
Tauranga's David Holder secured his first podium finish at Otago with second overall in his ex-Hayden Paddon Mitsubishi Evo 8. Holder is being mentored by New Zealand WRC driver Paddon and only moved to the four-wheel-drive class this season.
Another driver with great pace but having a challenging run with car problems this season is Nelson's Ben Hunt, who was a podium finisher at this event last year.
Missing from the start list will be last year's Canterbury Rally winner, Timaru's Chris West. While running second in the Otago Rally's day two opening stage, he and co-driver Chris Cobham suffered a high-speed crash in their Mitsubishi Evo X.
''There's little room for any distraction or error at that speed. Unfortunately we were wide on the outside of a long right over a crest,'' West said.
''It was one of those situations that more often than not you get away with, but we hit a tree stump and rolled 4 times.''
