1995 World Rally champion, Colin McRae is ready to kick off the firs🐠t ever X Games Rally today [Wednesday], following two-days of testing with his open class Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

The X Games Rally is a stand-alone, invite only event within the 2006 Rally America National Championship, it marks the first time any form of car racing has been incl💟uded in the ESPN X Games.

On Wednesday the invited drivers will tackle eight gravel stages north of Los Angeles, then on Saturday August 5 the event will conclude with a special stage in and around the Home Depot Centre in Los Angeles, televised live in the US on ABC.

McRae, who will be joined by co-driver, Nicky Grist and who is favourite to take gold, will head a four-car attack by the Subaru Rally Team USA, with regular drivers, Travis Pastrana and Ken Bl🃏ock and 2005 Rally America PGT Class champion Tanner Foust all competing in similar Vermont SportsCar-prepared Impreza's.

These are new cars for the X Games and they are lighter and more powerful than the cars Pastrana and Block have used thus far in the 2006 Rally 🦩America National Championship, where Pastrana and his co-driver, Christian Edstrom sit atop the overall standings after their recent runners-up spot at the Maine Forest Rally.

"We tested the cars for the first time on Monday and I instantly felt a very good difference, the cars are more nimble, more powerful," explained Pastrana. "I🎃 can't wait to showcase rallying at the X Games, its going to be amazing."

"We are very focused, there are less total stage miles than a typical Rally America event, so everything counts so much, we really need to fast everywhere with no mistakes," added B🔴lock's co-driver Ales Ge🌸lsomino.

The addition of rallying to the X Games is a major boost for the sport in the USA - and the live coverage on ABC on Saturday☂ afternoon will be a f🅰irst for US rallying.

Picture credits: Lars Gange / rally.subaru.com