"I came here last year, I did testing and the car failed really early on and had a really big crash, probably the biggest crash of my career so far, and we didn’t do the rally. I was fine but the car wasn’t," Young said.

"We drove across from Perth with the rally car, so it was a long way to do… I think we did two kilometres, maybe if that.

"For it to all end, then to have to pack the car up and drive it all the way back, it wasn’t the best experience. This year we can right the wrong.

"I’ve had time to think about it since last year and I have definitely come here just to finish and I guess it’s something that I want to achieve, that’s to finish this rally.

"This time we’re with our normal team from Japan, so the cars have come from New Zealand from the first round.

"We’re doing testing [on Wednesday] afternoon but we get to see the stages on Thursday. We’ll drive over the stages in a normal car and write the pace notes for the rally."

Young and teammate Sumiyama got up close and personal with a pair of dingoes at the National Zoo and Acquarium on Wednesday.

While Young has come from Perth via New Zealand and Sumiyami is from Japan, a handful of their rivals are lucky enough to have the National Capital Rally right on their doorstep.

Canberra teammates Michael Harding and James Thorburn are itching to tap into a hometown advantage, with the former growing up racing Datsuns around the bush.

"I’ve been involved in rallying in one way or another since I was 15," Harding said.

"I think I first co-drove my first event out in Tumut when I was 16 with another school friend. Since then I’ve been in and out over the years depending on where things were at life-wise.

"I’ve been very passionate about rallying for 20 years now. It’s really good to have international motorsport in Canberra.

"Canberra has always been a really good home for rallying in Australia, we’ve got amazing roads literally minutes from our CBD. To have the Asia Pacific guys here this year is fantastic."