Former FIA African Rally Champion Conrad Rautenbach completed his final preparations for this week’s Rally GB at this morning’s shakedown stage.

Rally GB, the final round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship, gets underway from Cardiff this evening.

Rautenbach’s Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC ran without fault through this final test for the all-gravel event. The former Safari Rally winner was pleased with the car – and pleased to be back on gravel roads.

“This is a great event,” said Conrad. “And it’s one I always look forward to. The shakedown stage was good and the weather was pretty good too. It rained quite hard, which is handy because it gives us an idea of what to expect during the rally. We made a few changes with the car, nothing major, just some set-up stuff. Everything went well and now we’re just looking forward to getting started tonight.

“I really like the first day stages tomorrow, so I’m really looking forward to those. As well as our event, it’s going to be a massive rally for Sebastien [Loeb] and the Citroen team. There’s a buzz around the event which is making it a really exciting event.”

Conrad’s fellow Citroen driver Loeb is chasing a sixth consecutive drivers’ world championship – but the Frenchman is one point behind Ford’s Finn Mikko Hirvonen. The two drivers go into this final event of the season knowing it’s winner takes all in Wales.