Friday, June 6 2008 -- The forthcoming Rally of Turkey will be a major test of Andreas Aigner's abilities.

The sun will, undoubtedly, be shining and in the absence of his two main title rivals, a third successive win for the Austrian would put him in an exceptionally strong position going into the second half of the season. Hence, he'd better make hay.

Right now, Aigner is in the groove despite tricky conditions. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driver romped home in the South American rain and moved his Mitsubishi perfectly between the biggest rocks along the roughest roads of Greece to ensure he starts as favourite to collect a hat-trick of 2008 P-WRC wins in Turkey.

Aigner's Red Bull Rallye Team partner Bernardo Sousa also drove well in Turkey to score a career-best second in the category, benefiting from the late exclusion from Martin Rauam. Rauam has the opportunity to make immediate amends as he takes his Lancer to the start in Kemer.

With series leader heading into Greece Jari Ketomaa and Swedish Rally winner Juho Hanninen electing to skip Turkey, expect the likes of Mitsubishi drivers Armindo Araujo, Fumio Nutahara and Martin Prokop to carry the fight to the Red Bull boys. Prokop desperately needs a good performance to get over his quiet start to the year. He went off the road on the first morning on the Acropolis Rally.

However, it's not just the Mitsubishis which will be flying in Turkey even though they have won Group N on every round of the world championship since Ireland last year. Subaru is still struggling to iron out some of the early bugs in the 2008-specification Impreza WRX, but Nasser Al-Attiyah's early lead in Greece last week, allied to some rapid domestic performances from the car around the world point to the Lancers coming under increased competition in Turkey next week.

Former champion Al-Attiyah is also likely to pose the biggest challenge to the Lancers. Having been on the Group N podium in Turkey before, the Qatar driver knows what's needed to succeed in the tough stages. Another major challenge will come from Toshi Arai, the defending P-WRC champion. He's suffered a chronic start to the year and is desperate to turn the corner in Turkey.

We shouldn't forget the sole Super 2000 entry, either. Patrik Sandell's a more than capable driver and his screaming Peugeot 207 has shown flashes of speed and consistency earlier his season - this would be a good time for the Swedish-French connection to come on song for the duration of a rally.