The route map for the 2008 Rally of Otago has been updated, and now includes service and spectator locations.

Long-term sponsor, Dunlop, have re-affirmed their commitment to the Otago Classic Rally for 2008.

Major sponsor of the Otago Classic Rally since 2002, Dunlop’s support of the most popular classic rally in the southern hemisphere has enabled investment in the growth of the event. This investment has seen many star drivers from Europe competing, and has helped increase television coverage, both nationally and internationally.

The world’s best known, and most successful, female rally driver, Michèle Mouton, will be the drawcard entry in the 2008 Dunlop Classic Rally of Otago, driving a Ford Escort RS1800 for the Rossendale Rally Team.

For five years now, the Rossendale Team have been working in a very successful partnership with the event organisers to bring high profile European drivers to what is now regarded as the Southern Hemisphere's premier classic rallying events.

The 2008 Rally of Otago may be still three months away, but that hasn’t stopped a record number of early entries for this year’s event, scheduled for May 10 and 11.

Already nearly 60 competitors have registered their intention to compete in the Dunedin-based rally, including 10 from Australia, one entry from the Philippines, and high-profile entries from Finland and France.

The popular Australian husband and wife team of Keith and Mary-Anne Callinan will return to New Zealand in May for another shot at the Dunlop International Classic Rally of Otago.

The world’s greatest female rally driver, Michele Mouton, will drive an ex-works Audi Quattro at this year’s Otago Rally in Dunedin, New Zealand.

This year’s Rally of Otago will see two lady drivers at the pointy end of the field, proving that you don’t have to be a man to be successful in the dirty and dusty world of rallying.

French lady, Michele Mouton, is widely regarded as the greatest female rally driver of all time, but a local Kiwi girl will also be challenging the boys for victory when the event gets under way on May 10.

Rally fans are being given the opportunity to take part in an exclusive dinner, to be hosted by former World Rally Championship star, Michele Mouton, in the week leading up to the Otago Rally.

Mouton, a former works driver for the Audi factory team in the famed Group B era of the WRC, will be in New Zealand to drive a Ford Escort RS1800 in the southern hemisphere’s best classic gravel rally.

The youngest driver ever in the New Zealand Rally Championship, Sloan Cox, will make his debut at the Rally of Otago in May, and looks set to leave his mark on the Dunedin based event.

The 16-year old was only able to contest two of the six championship rounds in 2007 as he wasn’t old enough to obtain an international motorsport licence, but is champing at the bit ahead of his debut in the Dunedin-based event.