Aman Barfull: 'Unprecedented collective effort and institutional support'

(31/10/2011)

Aman Barfull

After another edition of the RallyRACC, Aman Barfull, Clerk of the Course at the Rally de España, scoring round of the FIA World Rally Championship, evaluates the event from the organiser's perspective.

The RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2011, has once again been an organizational success, with an unbeatable final balance in all areas that make up such a demanding race, which has been carried out with the best of scores by the complex network set up by the RACC and their large number of collaborators.

Aman Barfull, RACC Sports Area Director, RallyRACC Clerk of the Course, Vice-President of the FIA Rally Commission, member of the FIA WRC Commission states:

"It's been more than a week now since the HQ at PortAventura closed its doors. Our post-rally is over, the reports are finished, everything is tidied up, the roads and tracks are clean and in perfect condition since many days ago to be used as normal, Salou and Costa Daurada are receiving their winter tourists, PortAventura is getting ready for their famous Halloween '11...everything is back to normal. The FIA World Rally Championship has passed the area creating expectation and repercussion, image return, international recognition and economic impact. The drivers are now focussed on the last round of the season and we are preparing new projects, obviously including the 48th edition of our RallyRACC.

The RACC is proud of the teamwork done and of the results achieved through it, with no doubt, the best in history. Once again, we've been able to excel the high demands proposed by the FIA for a WRC event. 

The success of our race and the fact of being in this privileged position is due to the great work of the team of the RACC led by Ramon Corominas. The effort of almost 2,500 people during the rally, most of them volunteers, who have contributed to the success of the RallyRACC, is our most important asset, now and in the future.

It is time to close this edition and start thinking about the next; it is time to look for resources, to join efforts. This recently finished 2011 edition has enjoyed an unprecedented institutional support. Artur Mas, President of the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya), and Vice-President Joana Ortega, visited the rally nerve centre on two different days. Iván Tribau, General Secretary of Sports at the Catalan Government came as well.

The highest institutions of the area were also at the race: Josep Poblet, President of the Tarragona County Council and Mayor of Vila-seca; Frederic Adan, President of the Tarragona Regional Council; Pere Granados, Mayor of Salou; and even Josep Fèlix Ballesteros, Mayor of Tarragona, took his time to attend the RallyRACC after the recent nomination of Tarragona as the host city of the Mediterranean Games 2017, a fact that is also celebrated by the RACC.

I'd also like to thank for the work done by the security forces, the town councils and residents of the different towns and villages which have hosted our race, for their commitment and the great attitude shown from the very beginning. And also the federations, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the Royal Spanish Motor Sport Federation (RFEdA), the Catalan Motor Sport Federation (FCA) and the WRC Promoter, North One Sport (NOS), and the many celebrities, sportspeople, including F1 driver Jaime Alguersuari, as well as the thousands of fans from Catalonia, Spain and many foreign countries who came to watch the race live and went back home with the feeling of having experienced a show that was worth it.

There is no better way to say goodbye than with a loud THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! See you in 2012, from 1 to 4 November, approx. one week later than this recent edition, but with an extremely important incentive, i.e. being the last scoring round of the whole 2012 FIA World Rally Championship: Drivers, Manufacturers, Production-WRC, Super 2000-WRC and WRC Academy. In 2012, everything will finish in Spain, and this is another proof of the trust the world of rallying has put in our country and our organization".

47 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2011
(20 to 23 October)

• Official Sponsors: Salou, Patronat de Turisme de la Costa Daurada, PortAventura, movistar, Agència Catalana de Turisme

• Official Partners: Cambra Oficial de Comerç, Indústria i Navegació de Tarragona, Europcar, Seat (official vehicle), Cava Mestres (official cava)

• Official Media Partners: Auto Sport Hebdo, Sport, El Periódico, Catalunya Ràdio

• FIA World Rally Championship International Partners: Abu Dhabi, Delphi, Edox, FxPro, Michelin, Nokia