The battle for WRC 2 honours at Rally Australia promises to be one of the most intense of the season with five of the top six championship contenders lining up.

With drivers counting their best six scores from seven rallies, they can choose their preferred events.

While all the main protagonists are in Australia, fourth-placed Karl Kruuda has opted out of this round.

Australia is the first scoring round for leader Lorenzo Bertelli since the Italian claimed his maiden win on home ground in Sardinia in June. He holds a three-point lead over Ott Tanak. Yuriy Protasov is back and the early-season leader is three points behind Tanak.

The Ukrainian is also tackling his final scoring round.

The absent Kruuda is a point behind, with Jari Ketomaa two points further back and the latter is hoping to win on his Australia debut.

Just nine points cover those top five drivers but sixth-placed Nasser Al Attiyah must not be ruled out. T

he Qatari, who won his opening two rounds, is 21 points off the lead but has completed just four of his seven scoring rallies. Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi is also likely to be amongst the frontrunners.

Meanwhile, Max Rendina leads the Production Cup within the WRC 2 and just finishing will be enough to take maximum points from his seventh and final outing.