RallyRACC, a key event for the World Championship

18/06/2018

Due to its position in the world championship calendar, the 54 RallyRACC CATALUNYA-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2018 will be a key race for the decision of the World Championship titles: Drivers, Co-Drivers and Manufacturers, but also WRC2 and WRC3. Moreover, the event will also be a scoring round towards the two new championships that have gathered a large number of entrants: Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica and Beca Junior R2.
 
Given the sports results of the championship at every event staged so far this season, a thrilling fight between the four official structures can surely be expected: Hyundai, Ford, Toyota and Citroën. The current leader of the championship is Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), who has taken the victory in Sweden and Portugal, although we should not forget that the reigning World Champion, Sébastien Ogier (Ford) won in Monte Carlo, Mexico and Corsica, and that Ott Tänak (Toyota) did it in Argentina.

The alternatives to lead the standings are many, and it is only natural to think that great drivers like Jari-Matti Latvala and Esapekka Lappi (Toyota), Andreas Mikkelsen and Dani Sordo (Hyundai), Craig Breen (Citroën) and Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen (Ford) haven't said the last word yet.

There are many crews that have announced their participation in the 54 RallyRACC so far, although they are not registered for the World Championship. A highlight among them will be the great rally star and star of the RallyRACC, Sébastien Loeb (Citroën), nine times World Champion and eight times winner of the Catalan event, who is having this year a mini championship programme, racing at three events, the last one being the Spanish round. American driver Ken Block (Ford) has also announced that his only participation in a WRC round this year will be the RallyRACC.

The only mixed surface rally of the World Championship
The 54 RallyRACC will keep its structure as a mixed rally, a unique feature in the World Rally Championship. The rally has a total route of 1,132.59 km, including 331.78 timed kilometres split into 18 special stages, 10 of which are different and all of which will be covered twice, except for the urban stages in Barcelona and Salou that will only be run once. This structure as a mixed rally was introduced in 2010, and therefore, this will be the ninth consecutive year of the RallyRACC with this type of gravel-tarmac combination.

FIA titles for which the 54 RallyRACC counts
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, Co-Drivers and Manufacturers/Teams (12th of 13)
FIA WRC2 for Drivers, Co-Drivers and Teams (12th of 13)
FIA WRC3 for Drivers, Co-Drivers and Teams (12th of 13)
Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica (5th of 6)
Beca Junior R2 (6th of 6)