Start of the RallyRACC week

(21/10/2013)

49 RallyRACC Presentation in Barcelona

This is the week of the staging of the Spanish round of the World Rally Championship, the RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA (24 to 27 October), and it starts with the official presentations, held in Madrid in the morning and in Barcelona in the afternoon.

The 49th edition will see an interesting race on asphalted roads and gravel tracks, the latter on the last rally day. Several interesting aspects are meeting in Spain:  Sébastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (VW) will be debuting as World Champions; Dani Sordo-Carlos del Barrio (Citroën) will be fighting to clinch their second victory on a surface that is actually favourable for the Spanish duo; Thierry Neuville (Ford), Jari-Matti Latvala (VW), Mikko Hirvonen (Citroën) and Sordo will be fighting for the second step on the final podium… Loads of attractions for an event that will decide the Manufacturers’ and WRC2 World Championships.
 
64 crews will be taking the official start from the stairs of the Cathedral in Barcelona, to face the three rally days, the first of them (Friday 25) with three night stages on asphalt (Querol, El Montmell and Riudecanyes), to continue the next day (Saturday 26) also on the same characteristic surface of the RallyRACC (El Priorat and Colldejou, twice; and Riudecanyes and the urban stage in Salou once).   The last day (Sunday 27) will be mixed, with Gandesa and Pesells, on gravel surface and the long and mixed Terra Alta that will combine both surfaces.  The three stages will be raced twice. All of this will presumably leave an open end until the last beats of the race. In total, three race days, with 15 stages and 355.92 timed kilometres.

In addition to the three rally days, there will be the Shakedown in Salou on Thursday 24, to allow drivers fine tuning their vehicles for the start of the RallyRACC, as well as countless activities in Salou and PortAventura, the true nerve centres of this world championship event.

This morning’s presentation in Madrid was held in the facilities of the Higher Council for Sports and was chaired by the institution’s president, Miguel Cardenal, joined by the President of the Spanish Motor Sports Federation and FIA Vice-President, Carlos Gracia, the two-times World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, as well as RACC President, Sebastià Salvadó, among other authorities.

The presentation to be held in Barcelona will be attended by the Spanish WRC driver Dani Sordo and the most successful Spanish co-driver of history, Luis Moya. In attendance as well, Ivan Tribau, Secretary General for Sports of the Catalan Government, among other authorities, who will also be joined by RACC President Sebastià Salvadó.

In addition to experiencing the RallyRACC on site in Tarragona, fans can follow the event live at www.rallyracc.com, the website holding complete information about the race, which will be offering online results and comments during the race.  The latest news from the rally will also be available via Twitter at @rallyracc.

Attached is the press kit of this 49th edition of the RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, which is a complement to the official magazine of the rally that has been published in high-quality format and will be distributed at the start in Barcelona, in Salou and in the Port Aventura parc fermé.