30/09/2009
Shakedown and ceremonial start of the RallyRACC on Thursday

Ford Service. Shakedown RallyRACC 2008

The Shakedown of the 45 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España, i.e the “dress rehearsal” before the start of real competition, will take place this Thursday, 1 October in the morning. This test session which will be held on the 4.32 initial kilometres of stage 13 and 16, Riudecanyes, to be raced on the third Day, from Les Irles to Coll de la Teixeta, will be divided into two parts, the first from 8.00 to 12.00h during which only P1, P2 and P3 priority drivers will be allowed to drive (the latter being able to cover the stage only between 10.00 and 12.00h), and the second from 12.30 to 14.30 for the rest of the non-priority drivers.

Due to the reduced parking space available, participants will not have the usual service facilities. It is only allowed to have one fast service vehicle per entered car, which will be located a few metres before the start. The logistics base will be the Service Park in Port Aventura, located 26 km from the Shakedown. After the first passage of the Shakedown stage, the vehicles will be able to return to the start in Les Irles following the N-420 road.

During the Shakedown, participants must wear their helmets and their whole safety equipment, and the cars must be fitted with their competition numbers and rally plates, so that the shakedown becomes a real trial for drivers, machines and teams, as well as for media photographers.

Ceremonial start, at 20.00h in Salou
The rally will have its official start at the ceremonial start, to be held tomorrow, Thursday. It is actually only a formal start ceremony but it is a way to gather all teams having passed scrutineering in their starting order and have an official start of the race. This ceremony will be held at 20.00h on the podium located on the Salou Promenade, and the cars will be starting in one minute gaps. One hour before, Loeb, Sordo, Hirvonen, Latvala and the Solberg brothers, together with their co-drivers, will be signing autographs for all fans next to the pre-start park. The Vehicles with History will also be exhibited there, so that more than 100 competition vehicles - and the best drivers of the moment - will contribute with their presence to the colour of a WRC round.

Press conference with Dani Sordo
Tomorrow, Thursday, 1 October, the usual FIA pre-rally press conference will be held from 13.30h at the Media Centre in the PortAventura Convention Centre. Entrance is obviously reserved for accredited journalists. The drivers attending will be from the J-WRC Hans Weijs and Simone Bertolotti, and from the WRC Mikko Hirvonen, Sébastien Loeb, Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg.

RACC Press