Finland’s Pasi Hagstrom has dominated the 2008 Dunlop International Classic Rally of Otago, winning all but two of the stages and taking victory by over three and a half minutes.

Today’s first day in the 2009 Southern Cross Hotel Rally of Otago has seen a close battle between defending series champion Hayden Paddon and current leader Richard Mason swing the way of the challenger late in the afternoon.

The second of five rounds in the Vantage New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC), the two-day rally uses a mixture of forest and county roads around Dunedin in central Otago.

The story of the Kelly Gang may have ended when the famous Australian bushrangers were killed in 1880, but the Kelly name continues to pop up.

The Otago Rally has again provided exciting action for spectators on the roads around Dunedin.

Local driver Derek Ayson has won the Dunlop International Classic Rally of Otago after overnight leader, Alister McRae, retired with engine failure on the day’s fifth stage.

Driving a Nissan powered Ford Escort, Ayson and co-driver Greg Scott took victory by a comfortable margin of two minutes and 30 seconds from Australians Brad Goldsbrough and Aaron Topliff in a Datsun 1600.

The Otago Rally will return to its traditional May date in 2008, with the expectation that more settled weather will make things more pleasant for competitors, officials and spectators alike.

Widely regarded as the best event on the New Zealand Rally Championship calendar, the event will once again host a round of the national championship, as well as the increasingly popular International Classic Rally of Otago, and the Allcomers Rally.

The official entry list for the 2008 Rally of Otago is now available. The list includes 21 entries in the New Zealand Rally Championship round, 50 entries in the Dunlop Classic Rally, and a further 32 cars in the Rally Xtreme.

Masterton’s Richard and Sara Mason comfortably won the Rally of Otago today to extend their overall lead in the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship.
 

Australian competitors are already showing a strong interest in contesting the 2008 Otago Rally, despite the event still being over eight months away.

The event, which in 2008 will run on May 10 and 11, is already well into the planning phase with a number of changes set to enhance the event even further.

Drivesouth, the motoring section of the Otago Daily Times, has been announced as the major sponsor for the motorsport show to be held on Friday, May 9, the night before the 2008 Rally of Otago gets under way.