Since Mexico does not appear on the World Rally Championship calendar this season, the North American country took on the project of organising a Rally of Nations in order to satisfy the many national fans of the sport.

The idea stems from the notion of an Olympic games-style world cup of sorts in which two-car teams defend their nation's colours and fight for top honours. The event, reserved for N4 and S2000 spec cars, has generated enough interest to gather 32 crews representing 13 countries.

Well-known names appear on the entry list: Austria's Manfred Stohl, Finland's Toni Gardemeister, France's Didier Auriol and Brice Tirabassi, Great Britain's Niall McShea, Spain's Dani Sola and Xavier Pons, Sweden's Patrik Sandell and P-G Andersson, and Mexico's Benito Guerra appear on the list among many other drivers taking part in this weekend's challenge.

The Rally of Nations takes place from July 9th to 12th in the state of Guanajuato and counts over 250 kilometres of timed runs. 18 stages are on the programme and each day ends with a super special stage set up in Leon.

Mexican organisers aim to make the Rally of Nations a highlight of rallying in the coming years.

Rally of Nations - Entry list:

Austria      Manfred Stohl-Ilka Minor               Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Austria      Andreas Aigner-Daniela Weissengruber   Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Ecuador      Juan Pablo Villota-J.Carlos Viteri     Peugeot 206 XS A6
Ecuador      Camilo Rivera-Juan José Rivera         Peugeot 206 XS A6
Finland      Harri Rovanperä-Jouni Arolainen        Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Finland      Toni Gardemeister-Tomi Tuominen        Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
France       Didier Auriol-Denis Giraudet           Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
France       Brice Tirabassi-Fabrice Gordon         Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Gr. Britain  Phillip Morrow-Damien Connolly         Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Gr. Britain  Niall McShea-Marshall Clarke           Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Germany      Hermann Gassner Jr.-Kathi Wüstenhagen  Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Germany      Mark Wallenwein-Stefan Kopczyk         Subaru Impreza     N4
Italy        Mario Isola-Roberto Mometti            Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Italy        Stefano Marrini-Matteo Braga           Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Mexico 1     Benito Guerra-Javier Marín             Subaru Impreza     N4
Mexico 1     Rodrigo Ordoñez-Mauricio Pimentel      Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Mexico 2     Ricardo Triviño- Checo Salom           Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Mexico 2     Rodrigo Salgado- Diódoro Salgado       Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Mexico 3     Francisco Name-Armando Zapata          Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Mexico 3     Pepe Cortes-Alex Prieto                Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Peru         Humberto Tijero -Michael Espinoza      Renault Clio       N3
Peru         Sandro Pestana -Gianpier Giacchetti    Peugeot 206 XS     A6
Spain        Dani Sola- Oscar Sanchez               Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Spain        Xavier Pons-Alex Haro                  Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Sweden       Patrik Sandell-Emil AxeL.              Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Sweden       PG Andersson-Anders Fredriksson        Mitsubishi Lancer  N4
Uruguay      Guelfi-Albanell                        Peugeot 206 XS
Uruguay      Diego Elola-Pablo Irrazabal            Peugeot 206 XS     A6
USA 1        Matthew Johnson-Chrissie Beavis        Subaru Impreza     N4
USA 1        Kenny Bartram-Dennis Hotson            Subaru Impreza     N4
USA 2        Patrick Moro-Ole Holter                Subaru Impreza     N4
USA 2        Piotr Wiktorczyk-Martin Brady          Subaru Impreza     N4