Two-time World Rally Champion, Miki Biasion, will drive a Porsche 911 in the 2013 Classic Rally of Otago from April 5 to 7, joining a long list of international stars that have contested the event.

The 54-year old Italian was the 1988 and 1989 World Rally Champion
driving for the powerful Lancia team, and won 17 WRC events in a stellar
15 year career at the top level.

At the peak of his powers he
was successful in almost three quarters of the WRC events he contested
for Lancia, winning five events in both his championship-winning
seasons.

After 16 wins in Lancia’s Delta Integrale, Biason moved
to Ford for the 1992 season, taking another victory in the Escort RS
Cosworth, in 1993.

He retired from rallying at the end of the 1994 season, but went on to win the World Truck Championship in 1998 and 1999.

For
the 2013 Rally of Otago, the Italian will be co-driver be countrywoman,
Fabrizia Pons, one of the rally’s biggest supporters.

Pons has
co-driven for many of the event’s international drivers, including Pasi
Hagstrom, Alex Fiorio, Ari Vatanen and Michele Mouton.

Event
spokesman, Roger Oakley, said that they were thrilled to have attracted
another former World Champion to the Southern Hemisphere’s foremost
classic rally.

Event spokesman Roger Oakley said that confirmation of Biasion was tremendous news for the event.

“Miki
being here will provide a lot of excitement for the event, and will
attract a lot of competitors wishing to see how they compare against
him,” Oakley said.  

“He will undoubtedly be very fast, and the
Porsche is a fantastic car, but there will a lot of speculation about
how this combination will fare against the dominant Ford Escort BDAs.”  

Oakley
said that spectators and fans will have an opportunity to not only
appreciate his driving talent, but also to meet him.  He also wished to
thank to the event’s supporters, and in particular Allan Dippie, the
owner of the Porsche.

Next year’s Rally of Otago will also be the
first round of the New Zealand Rally Championship, and the 20th
consecutive year that the Otago Sports Car Club has hosted a round of
the NZRC, a feat that even Rally New Zealand can’t claim.

Details on the format and route for the rally will be announced in the coming weeks.