The 10-day event begins in Lima on Friday, September 14th and finishes in the Peruvian capital on Sunday, September 23rd.
Kankkunen and Repo will join Team Cataneo for the 37th running of the Gran Premio Nacional de Carreteras (Caminos del Inca), which permits the use of trucks, station wagons, buggies, vintage cars and FIA N2, N3 and N4 vehicles. There is also an Open Masters class and an Open 4WD section.
Kankkunen won 23 WRC rallies in an illustrious career which saw him clinch no less than four world titles in 1986, 1987, 1991 and 1993, initially with the Peugeot and Lancia factory teams and, latterly, with Lancia Abarth and Toyota Team Europe. The 48-year-old Finn won his first two WRC rallies in Africa in 1985, by clinching victories in both the Safari and Ivory Coast rallies.
He has always relished a sense of adventure and is looking forward to tackling the Peruvian event, with the co-driver with whom he won WRC rallies in Argentina and Finland towards the end of his regular WRC career in 1999.
Kankkunen also made a name for himself in the world of cross-country rallying and is a former winner of the gruelling Dakar Rally with Peugeot Talbot Sport. In recent years he has tackled select events around the globe and was a member of the Volkswagen cross-country team a few years ago.
"It is a major boost to have sealed the entry of Juha Kankkunen and Juha Repo so far in advance of the start of the event," confirmed Promotions Director Henry Bradley. "We have had enquiries from competitors around the world and are also delighted to announce that three drivers from the Dominican Republic and one from Mexico have already entered as well."
Renowned factory rally drivers have a glittering record on the legendary Caminos del Inca, which takes place on Perú's closed public roads with the backdrop of the stunning Andes mountain range. Back in 1969, Tony Fall visited the event in a works Ford Escort and emerged victorious. One year later the great Finn, Hannu Mikkola, entered and retired early on, although he did win the coveted London-Mexico Rally the same year in a Ford Escort. Both used the respected Swede Gunnar Palm as their co-driver.
In 1995, the former Audi and British Leyland factory driver, John Buffum, raced an Audi Coupe S2, but the American lost a potential victory when he was excluded for running his Audi with an oversized turbo restrictor. Kankkunen will be hoping to follow Tony Fall on to the list of previous winners.
In a total route of 2722.90km, the organisers anticipate that 2289.50km will be competitive, with a mere 433.40km taking place on non-competitive liaison sections.
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