Miki Biasion
Miki Biasion driving a Lancia Delta Integrale 16v
|
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |
 Italian
|
| Born |
January 7, 1958 Bassano del Grappa |
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Active years | 1980–1994 |
| Co-driver |
Tiziano Siviero Carlo Cassina
|
| Teams | Lancia, Ford |
| Rallies | 78 |
| Championships | 2 (1988, 1989) |
| Rally wins | 17 |
| Podiums | 40 |
| Stage wins | 373 |
| Total points | 768 |
| First rally | 1980 Rallye Sanremo |
| First win | 1986 Rally Argentina |
| Last win | 1993 Acropolis Rally |
| Last rally | 1994 RAC Rally |
Massimo 'Miki' Biasion (born January 7, 1958) is an Italian rally driver, two-time World Rally champion.
Biasion was married to Italian rally driver Chantal Galli, who won the Italian women's rally championship several times.
Born at Bassano del Grappa, Biasion came to prominence in the early 1980s, winning both the Italian and European Rally Championships in 1983, driving a Lancia 037. He began competing in 1979, in an Opel Kadett GT/E. He was later drafted in to play a key role for the works Lancia World Rally Championship team in the mid-1980s as the squad sought to regroup after previous star driver Henri Toivonen's fatal crash, and would go on to dominate early Group A rallying, taking the world championship in the years 1988 and 1989. At his peak, Biasion was notching victories in almost three quarters of all events he entered. He also was only the second driver to successfully defend his title (after Juha Kankkunen) and the third one to win two titles (after Kankkunen and Walter Röhrl).
After his championship years, Biasion was never able to achieve that level of success again. He failed to win an event for Lancia in 1991, and switched to Ford for 1992 on a contract that made him the highest-paid driver of his day, and gave him some managerial input. The optimism did not last. Biasion reputedly described the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 as "a pile of shit" after his first event for the team (the 1992 Monte Carlo Rally), although on the Portuguese Rally he did give the car its best WRC result by finishing second. The following year, driving the new Ford Escort RS Cosworth, he won the Acropolis Rally and led the driver's championship for part of the season.
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Wikipedia