DirtFish Media will partner with New Zealand’s Otago Rally to further grow the reach of what’s rapidly becoming one of the world’s most popular events.

Based out of Dunedin on New Zealand’s spectacular South Island, the April 8-10 event will include the latest specification Rally2 and AP4 cars chasing both the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship and the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship.

It also encompasses the International Classic Otago Rally – which has brought some of the world’s biggest rally stars, including Ari Vatanen, Hannu Mikkola, Juha Kankkunen, , Michèle Mouton and Miki Biasion to the South Island in previous years.

DirtFish Media will include a series of stories, features and videos on DirtFish.com from here on and throughout the rally itself.

Otago Rally spokesman Roger Oakley said: “We’re really excited about this partnership with Dirtfish.

“DirtFish has a fantastic reach within the worldwide rallying community, with world-class journalists. They’ve impressed us with their passion for the sport and we know they are the perfect partner to help us showcase to the world the Otago Rally, our region and New Zealand rallying.”

The Seattle-based media house’s agreement with Otago Rally follows a similar arrangement with Rally of Nations Guanajuato in México.

DirtFish CEO Justin Simpson added: “Working with events like Otago and Rally of Nations demonstrates the increased breadth, capacity and capability of DirtFish Media. We’re delighted to be working with Roger and his team in Otago.

“As rally fans, we’re all pretty proud of the roads in our own backyard, but it’s only when you get to New Zealand that you get a real insight into just what a rally stage can look like. The roads through Otago are genuinely some of the best in the world and the organising team running the event are at the same level.

“With New Zealand returning to the World Rally Championship this year, there couldn’t be a better time for us to work with Otago Rally and remind fans around the world what makes this place so special.”

The Otago Rally has run continuously since 1976, it’s the longest running round of the New Zealand Rally Championship (since 1993) and Rally New Zealand has been a feature of the FIA World Rally Championship since 1977.

“New Zealand,” Roger said, “has a fantastic rallying community, a very strong championship and a huge range of fantastic rallying roads. We hope that in coming years we can continue to welcome many international competitors to join us.

“More than 20 years ago, we started promoting our event to Australasia and beyond through a very successful partnership with Peter Whitten and Australian Rallysport Magazine, along with TV and video coverage created by Black Magic Media and Volt Media. Those relationships continue unabated and have led to many very strong friendships being created between NZ and Australian competitors.

“Dirtfish will help us extend this even further.”