Subaru Rally Tasmania will also incorporate a round of the Pacific Cup and the second round of the Tasmanian Rally Championship.

Canberra's Harry Bates and Queensland's John McCarthy have won both opening rounds in their Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Yaris AP4 and with a perfect score of 142 points, will go into the event as obvious favourites.

Bates is the eldest son of four-time ARC champion Neal Bates who heads up the Toyota Gazoo rally team in Australia.

NSW driver Molly Taylor and her New Zealand co-driver Malcolm Read are currently second in the championship in the Subaru Do Motorsport WRX STi but are 46 points behind with two seconds, a fourth and a sixth in the four heats so far.

In 2016 Taylor became the first woman to win the championship and she is the daughter of Coral Taylor who won four co-driver titles with Neal Bates.

Luke Annear from NSW and Tasmania's Steve Glenney are 27 points further back in third and will debut a new Ford Fiesta R5 which should be quicker than the Subaru WRX STi campaigned in the opening rounds.

Annear tested the car in Tasmania recently and was very happy with its performance.

Harry Bates' younger brother Lewis and Queensland's Anthony McLoughlin scored two seconds in round one in the second Yaris of the Toyota Gazoo Racing team but nothing in round two so they will be looking for a big result in Tasmania.

The battle between Annear and Bates junior will be one to watch as they are only separated by three points and now will be driving closely-matched cars.

There are two wildcard entries in the ARC with four-time champion Simon Evans making a return to the championship in a Les Walkden Rallying-prepared Subaru WRX STi with Bernie Webb in the co-driver's seat.

This car, which Molly Taylor drove last year in the ARC, has undergone a total mechanical rebuild and will be for sale after the event.

Even though Evans has been out of the championship since 2010 there is no doubt the Victorian will soon be on the pace with all the aggression of the past.

The second wildcard entry marks the welcome return of Tasmania's Marcus Walkem and brother Scott from Victoria in the first competition appearance of a Hyundai i20 R5 rally car in the country.

Marcus won the 2013 and 2014 TRC in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo with Damien Grimwood and then the brothers combined to win the four-wheel drive class in the ARC in 2015.

Last year the Walkems finished fourth in heat one and sixth in heat two for an overall fifth in Subaru Rally Tasmania driving an unfamiliar Peugeot 208 R5 which was a great effort.

The new Hyundai was tested by four-time NZ rally champion Hayden Paddon in Tasmania recently who also provided driver mentoring for Walkem.

Paddon has rallied at the highest level of the sport having won the 2016 Argentine round of the WRC and finished in the top six in WRC events on 26 occasions so it would have been a valuable exercise for Walkem.

Another interesting entry is West Australian John O'Dowd with experienced Toni Feaver as co-driver in a Skoda Fabia R5.

This team won all three opening rounds of the WA championship and scored a fourth and sixth in the opening ARC round in WA.

In the TRC Tim Auty and Jon Mitchell have cross-entered for both events in their rapid, but much-rallied, Mazda 323 GTR, and will be aiming for a top eight in the ARC event as well as maximum points in the TRC.

They won the opening round of the TRC very comfortably but this time is going to prove much more challenging with 2018 champion Bodie Reading and co-driver Mark Young making their first appearance this year in the Subaru WRX STi.

Reading has proved extremely quick in the past and with cross-entries like Auty/Mitchell this is set to be a great battle.

They will not have it all on their own as 2016 TRC champion Keith Abblitt is returning in his Subaru WRX STi Spec C with the experienced Nicole Bryan as co-driver.

Andrew Wylie won the TRC in 1999 and will be making a rare appearance in the championship in his Subaru WRX STi Spec C with Stuart Benson as co-driver while Wylie's son Kurt will line up in a similar car with Damien Roach.

Ten cars are entered for the Buckby Motors Subaru Impreza RS challenge and the team to beat will be last year's winners Nic Grave and Craig Sheahen but they can expect tough opposition from Traverso/Sarandis, Lewis/Carr and Newman/Kudra among others.

The Friday night Inveresk Super Special stage will again be run in the Esk Market area and should be spectacular.