The Flying Scotsman, Alister McRae, hit the forests in his Ford Escort RS1800 yesterday, ahead of this weekend's Dunlop International Classic Rally of Otago.

Former champion, and round one winner, Richard Mason, will start the Rally of Otago eager to build on his points haul in this year’s New Zealand Rally Championship.

Mason delivered the first blow in his battle with 2008 NZ Champion, Hayden Paddon, in the Hawke’s Bay Rally, taking victory ahead of former Dunedin girl Emma Gilmour, and the experienced Geof Argyle.

The field for the Dunlop International Classic Rally of Otago may be a little thinner in terms of overseas drivers than in past years, but the form guide hints that the battle for victory could be just as intense as always.

Last year’s winner, Finnish star Pasi Hagstrom, is not competing this year, but his place in the field has been taken by one of the legendary McRae clan – Alister.

The official entry list for the 2009 Rally of Otago has been released. The rally has attracted 88 entries, in the following categories:

New Zealand Rally Championship: 22 entries

Allcomers Rally: 27 entries

Dunlop Classic Rally: 39 entries

VIEW THE 2009 ENTRY LIST HERE

2007 Otago Classic Rally winner, Deane Buist, returns to the event this year, hoping to repeat the success he tasted two years ago.

Buist won the 2007 rally driving a Ford Escort RS1800, but sold the car not long afterwards. He returned to defend his title last year, but at the wheel of a Toyota Corolla powered by the popular BDA engine.

International Motorsport is offering Otago Rally competitors significant savings on transporting their vehicles between the North and South Islands for the May event.

Former British Rally Champion, Alister McRae, will be the headline act at this year’s Otago Classic Rally, to be held in New Zealand’s south island in mid-May.

McRae contested the Otago Rally at the wheel of a Subaru Impreza WRX in 2007, but will return in 2009 in a Ford Escort RS1800 prepared by Christchurch’s Bryce Biggs.

The horrific Victorian bushfires that have ravaged much of the southern Australian state have shocked the world, with whole towns destroyed and a death toll that has climbed into the hundreds.

The worst natural disaster in the country's history, now known as 'Black Saturday', has sparked an outpouring of grief  and support from countrymen eager to help those in need, with well over $75 million dollars having already been donated to bushfire appeals.

Ride with Australian driver, Darryn Snooks, aboard his Datsun Stanza during special stage 3 of the 2008 Otago Classic Rally.

The date for the 2009 Rally of Otago has been confirmed as May 16 and 17, with the event running as round two of the New Zealand Rally Championship.