The Junior World Rally Championship season will kick off Friday as Rally Sweden gets underway with a host of new entrants in the category, among them Kenya's Hamza Anwar.

The first action of the weekend will be the routine shakedown that will offer a first competitive feel of the rally, the only snow event in the WRC calendar.

Hamzar Anwar, who finished second in the African Rally Championship last year behind champion Leroy Gomes of Zambia, will be debuting in the world stage after impressive showing in the continental battles.

Speaking ahead of the opening leg of the season after an ice-hockey session, Anwar drew comparisons between the two sports.

"I'm out here in Sweden playing Ice-hockey; it's really tricky and it keeps you on your toes. Trying to keep the car on the road and on the same truck is probably the aim," said Anwar.

Anwar will find his first Junior WRC outing tricky indeed as he tries to challenge the best young drivers in the world in the slippery roads of Sweden.

The Junior WRC has attracted nine entrants this season as the one-make Ford Fiesta Rally 3 car category keeps on growing in reaps and bounds.

William Creighton kicks off the season as the bookies favourite with two years experience in the Junior WRC but will face stiff competition from Frenchman Laurent Pellier who makes a return to the JWRC, having a perfect record from his one-off appearance in 2016.

He dominated last year's ERC Championship earning the spot back to the Junior WRC courtesy of M-Sports 'Ladder of Opportunity.'

Grégoire Munster who will be competing in the WRC2 category this year made an entry in a bid to garner as much experience as possible.

The 5 race junior calendar will comprise of rallies of various mixtures of surfaces, as they race in the Snowy and Icey Sweden roads, head to Croatia's quick asphalt, and round up the season with a taste of the gravel surfaces in Italy and Estonia and lastly battle for the bonus points in the final round of the season.

All the nine competitors will be eyeing to take home the overall win as that guarantees a drive in four European WRC rounds next year with an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 car and a tyre support package from Pirelli.

Other drivers in the Junior WRC this season will include:-

1. Eamonn Kelly

2. Tom Rensonnet

3. Diego Dominguez

4. Raùl Hernández

5. Roberto Blach