Massimo Biasion
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Massimo "Miki" Biasion (born 7 January 1958) is an Italian rally driver, two-time World Rally champion.


Career

Biasion was born in
Bassano del Grappa Bassano del Grappa ( or ''Bassan'', ) is a city and ''comune'', in the Province of Vicenza, Vicenza province, in the region of Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Va ...
,
Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...
. Biasion came to prominence in the early 1980s, winning both the Italian and European Rally Championships in 1983, driving a
Lancia 037 The Lancia Rally (''Tipo 151'', also known as the Lancia Rally 037, Lancia 037 or Lancia-Abarth #037 from its Abarth project code ''SE037'') was a mid-engine sports car and rally car built by Lancia in the early 1980s to compete in the FIA Group ...
. 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 Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, which is the European subsidiary of Stellantis. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganise ...
World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...
team in the mid-1980s as the squad sought to regroup after previous star driver
Henri Toivonen Henri Pauli Toivonen (25 August 1956 – 2 May 1986) was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his younger brother, Harri, became a prof ...
's fatal crash, and would go on to dominate early
Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...
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 Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which we ...
) and the third one to win two titles (after Kankkunen and
Walter Röhrl Walter Röhrl (; born 7 March 1947) is a German rally and auto racing driver, with victories for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Audi as well as Porsche, Ford and BMW. Röhrl had 14 victories over his career, with his notable achievements including winnin ...
). 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 The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I, the 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 The Ford Escort RS Cosworth is a Homologation (motorsport), homologation special of the fifth generation European Ford Escort (Europe), Ford Escort. It was designed to qualify as a Group A car for the World Rally Championship in which it compete ...
, he won the
Acropolis Rally The Acropolis Rally of Greece () is a Rallying, rally competition that is part of the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship (WRC). The rally is held on very dusty, rough, rocky and fast mountain roads in mainland Greece, usually dur ...
and led the driver's championship for part of the season. Throughout Biasion's tenure at Ford he was overshadowed by the younger
François Delecour François Delecour (born 30 August 1962) is a French rally driver. Biography Career in World Rally Championship François Delecour began rallying in 1981, in the French national championship. He entered his first major event, the Monte Carlo R ...
, who generally proved to be faster, especially on tarmac. Moreover, Delecour's road accident, which forced him to sit out much of the 1994 season, exposed the weaknesses in the team. Insufficient resources meant that development of the Escort slipped behind its rivals, and Biasion's relationship with the team worsened as the season progressed. He was subsequently dropped for the following year. After contesting a couple of rallies for private teams, he retired quietly at the end of the 1995 season (his two last WRC events were part of the 2LWC prior to the late
Colin McRae Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007), was a British rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers' title. At 27, ...
's honor as 1995 World Rally Champion, but this truly last WRC event was the RAC (now Wales Rally GB) in 1994 when it was won by McRae himself and Didier Auriol's honor as 1994 World Rally Champion). Throughout his entire career he was co-driven by
Tiziano Siviero Tiziano Siviero (born 28 October 1957 in Bassano del Grappa, Veneto) is an Italian rally co-driver. He is most closely associated with Miki Biasion, with whom he won the 1983 European Rally Championship season, 1983 European Rally Championship on ...
, the sole exception being the Portuguese Rally of 1988, where Siviero was replaced by Carlo Cassina due to health problems. He drove for the works Mitsubishi team on the Dakar rally in both 2003 and 2004. In 2003, he finished the event's penultimate stage in third place, but his gearbox seized on the podium. Trying to move and fix the car in that area resulted in a 10-hour penalty. He fell from what was a podium in overall rally time to outside the top 10 in the final standings. In 2004, a roll ended his event - despite making it to service, the team could not fix the Pajero well enough to continue. He returned to the event in 2006, this time in the truck category. He drove for the manufacturer Iveco team, alongside team-mate
Markku Alén Markku Allan Alén (born 15 February 1951) is a Finland, Finnish former Rallying, rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru World Rally Team, Subaru and Toyota Team Europe, Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the ...
. In 2007, he was part of the manufacturer Fiat team, running the diminutive Panda 4x4 ('PanDakar') on the event, alongside team-mate Bruno Saby. Biasion won the World Truck Championship in 1998 and 1999 driving an
Iveco Iveco S.p.A., an acronym for Industrial Vehicles Corporation, is an Italian multinational transport vehicle manufacturing company with headquarters in Turin, Italy. It designs and builds light, medium, and heavy Commercial vehicle, commercial veh ...
.


Personal life

Biasion was married to Italian rally driver Chantal Galli, who won the Italian women's rally championship several times. They had four children, named Bettina, Isotta, Jacobo, and Olivia. The pair are now divorced, and Biasion is currently married to Paola.


WRC victories


Complete WRC results

: The results of the 1986
Rallye Sanremo Rallye Sanremo is a rally competition held in Sanremo, Italy. Except for the 1995 event, the event was part of the FIA World Rally Championship schedule from 1973 to the 2003. It was a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and is current ...
were annulled by the FIA.


References


External links

*
Biasion at RallyBase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biasion, Miki 1958 births Living people Lancia people Sportspeople from Bassano del Grappa World Rally Champions World Rally Championship drivers Italian rally drivers Dakar Rally drivers European Rally Championship drivers Rally raid truck drivers