Rally legend Seppo Harjanne will travel to Peru next week to help organisers of this year’s Incas Rally get things ready for the September event which promises to take new heights and become the new attraction of international competitors.

Harjanne will act as Stewart of the event and will work for 10 days with the Peruvian Automobile Club members in Lima to make sure the rally follows standard international rules.

The 60-year-old Finn was the taciturn, but supremely efficient man who co-drove Timo Salonen through all his successes with the Peugeot 205 T16 including the world rally championship title in 1985.

He then joined Tommi Makinen in the Mitsubishi team to help him win two of his four world rally titles, one in 1996 and the other in 1997.

Since 2000 he has been Deputy Clerk of the Course for Rally Finland and has recently also formed part of Rally Jordan’s event committee.

Last year, Harjanne joined forces with Juha Kankkunen to contest the Incas Rally for the first time in his career. After that, Harjanne became a firm believer of the event’s great potential and offered his expertise and knowledge to work with the organisers for this year’s edition.

The Incas Rally (September 11-21) is one of the few long distance rallies left in the world and is made up of five legs totalling 2,100 kilometres; it starts in Lima and goes through the historic cities of Huancayo, Ayacucho, Cusco, and Arequipa before returning to the capital city for the ceremonial finish.