The start of the Dakar Rally is now only three days away, so eurosport.yahoo.com gives you the lowdown on the drivers to watch out for in the car section.

Mitsubishi are the team to beat in the car section. Such has been their domination of the event recently, they have not been beaten for eight years and have clocked up 12 victories in total.

Heading their driver line-up is the greatest name in the history of the event, Stephane Peterhansel. The 42-year-old Frenchman won a record six times in the bike category between 1991 and 1998 and then proved he was equally at home behind a steering wheel with three wins in the car section - including last year.

His countryman Luc Alphand is sure to push him hard. The 1997 Alpine ski World Cup winner is an accomplished rally raider and won the Dakar in 2006. Two-time winner Hiroshi Masuoka from Japan and Spaniard Nani Roma, another former bike competitor, complete the team.

Volkswagen have an experienced line-up headed by two-time world rally champion Carlos Sainz, who has seen sizeable leads over the past two years erased with desert misdemeanours.

South African Giniel de Villiers and American Mark Miller , who was VW's top finisher in fourth place last year, are also retained by the German manufacturer, while veteran four-time event winner Ari Vatanen is dropped and replaced by three-time German rally champion Dieter Depping, who is making his Dakar debut.

Further down the field, Portuguese driver Carlos Sousa, who caused a sensation last year by leading on the European leg, will drive a similar diesel-powered Touareg, albeit in the colours of Team Lagos.

BMW will also have a strong contingent on the event. Team X-Raid, who do not have works status like the Mitsubishi and VW teams, had intended to run Briton Colin McRae, but his untimely death in September has caused them to find another experienced campaigner.

Frenchman Bruno Saby, who won the event as long ago as 1993, takes his place and will be fielded alongside freestyle skiing start Guerlain Chicherit and Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, who was sixth last year.

As ever, ex-Formula One driver and two-time Dakar winner Jean-Louis Schlesser will run a trio of his Ford-badged buggies for himself, French compatriot Dominique Housieaux and Spaniard Jose Luis Monterde.

World Touring Car stars Tiago Monteiro and Yvan Muller will both be in SMG buggies and looking for top-ten finishes, while good things are also expected of NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, the adrenaline junkie again competing in a Hummer, and ex-Hollywood stunt driver Krzysztof Holowczyc in a Nissan Navarra.

Stay logged on to eurosport.yahoo.com this week for exclusive video content as well as full previews of the bike and truck sections.

British interest comes in the shape of seven plucky amateurs further down the field.

Richard Hayward, Paul Mitson and Greg McLeod will all be competing in Bolwer Wildcats - highly-tuned Land Rover Defenders if you will.

Meanwhile Paul Green, Ian Rochelle, Glen Edmunds , and the husband and wife team of Michael and Susan Jones will all be in Desert Warriors - a car based on the more recent Land Rover Freelander model.

Jamie O'Leary / Eurosport