53 RallyRACC: The most complete rally of the WRC

16/06/2017

From left to right: Mr. Fernando Aldecoa, general director of PortAventura World; Mr. Josep Mateu, president of the RACC; Mr. Josep Poblet, president of the  Diputació de Tarragona; Mr. Pere Granados, mayor of Salou; Mr. Martí Carnicer, president of the Patronat de Turisme de la Diputació de Tarragona; and Mr. Aman Barfull, director of the RACC sports area

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6, 7 and 8 October were already known as the dates of the staging of the 53 RallyRACC CATALUNYA-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2017, and as of today, the roads, tracks and settings that have been included in the official itinerary of the race will form part of the logistic plans of drivers, teams and fans. The thirteenth edition of the RallyRACC that will be staged in the Salou-PortAventura World-Costa Daurada triangle, will include novelties as regards the organisation, and create renewed expectation on the sports side.

The structure of the event keeps all the attributes of the race, which have defined it in recent years as the great end-of-the-season event, especially since the introduction of the mixed configuration, a unique type of design in the current World Rally Championship, making use of the countless possibilities offered by the roads in Tarragona. This edition will not include the special stage held in the last three years in the city of Barcelona. This decision, taken by the Barcelona City Council, is a response to the demands of the Sants-Montjuïc district of the city.

Josep Mateu: "The refusal of the Barcelona City Council to have the rally back in Montjuïc affects the worldwide impact and image of the rally, the city and the country"

In this 53rd edition of the event, the RACC will make once again a huge organisational and financial effort to stage one of the best rallies of the current WRC. In this sense, RACC President Josep Mateu, is very clear: "The World Rally Championship is the utmost expression of car road racing and it demands from the RACC the set-up of a colossal operational framework that will continue with its high level this season again." After five years of collaboration with the city of Barcelona, twice as starting point and three as the venue of a special stage in Montjuïc, the RallyRACC won't be in Barcelona in 2017.

Josep Mateu: "All the support received from institutions or sponsors must necessarily be supported by as much dissemination as possible, and this year we are left without the great worldwide impact of the special stage in the Barcelona city centre. The set-up and dismantling of the stage implies a huge effort by the RACC, which has always been done with the highest excellence, within 24 hours, always respecting the neighbours daily live. It was always a magnificent special stage, safe, spectacular and highly praised by everyone, in addition to being a largely followed event, with live broadcasting to millions of people on TV. The refusal of the Barcelona City Council to hold the special stage in Montjuïc affects the worldwide impact and image of the rally, the city and the country".

The route of the 53 RallyRACC will cover a total of 1,289.43 km, 312.02 of which will be timed, distributed into 19 special stages, 10 of which will be different, including 5 new stages. This will be the eighth consecutive year in which the RallyRACC will have a mixed gravel-tarmac route, with a first day that will be almost identical to that of last year, as it aims to continue making the best of the mixed structure that has already proven to be balanced but difficult. All of this distinguished the Spanish round for being really complicated on the sports side.

Excepting this first mixed stage, the regular drivers of the Rally RACC will not at all be facing an already known itinerary, as the 7 tarmac stages will include novelties in their configuration, either because they will be covered in opposite direction or because they were used as special stages a few years ago. One of these stages will be completely new: 'Savallà' (Rauric-Conesa). Having a good race pace will be essential to fight for the front positions or in one of the classes, thus turning the event into a selective and absolutely unpredictable race.