76 Vehicles Entered for the 54 RallyRACC

10/10/2018

• 14 vehicles entered the WRC category and 25 are R5s, most of which entered the WRC2
• The World Rally Championship arrives in Barcelona at a moment of top expectation
• Large Spanish representation, lead by Dani Sordo-Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai)
• 24 countries represented: 47 participants from Spain, 19 from France and 13 from Finland and Great Britain
• World Champions Sébastien Loeb and Petter Solberg are back to compete in Spain

The 54 RallyRACC CATALUNYA-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2018, will be counting on the participation of 76 crews, 4 more than last year and 6 more than the year before, thus confirming that the Spanish round is one of the preferred events by teams and drivers. The FIA approved today the entry list of the event that will be staged from 25 to 28 October.

The 152 entered drivers and co-drivers represent a total of 24 countries, with Spain as the most represented country (47 drivers and co-drivers), followed by France (19), Finland and Great Britain (13), Italy and Portugal (10). There are drivers and co-drivers from all over the world, considering that in addition to the European participants, there are participants from the USA, Central America, South America, the Middle East and Japan.

In this edition, the crews will be representing 9 makes, with Peugeot having the largest representation (27 units), followed by Ford (16), Škoda (11), Citroën (9), Hyundai (6), Toyota (3), Volkswagen (2) and Mitsubishi and Renault (1 each). The official entry list is led by 14 World Rally Cars, 13 of which are latest generation, and 12 of which are works vehicles. The R5 class is, with no doubt, one of the most interesting and dynamic of the world championship, given the fact that there will be 25 vehicles at the RallyRACC, 21 of which will be fighting to score towards the WRC2.

WRC: Quality and Excitement
The current leader of the World Championship, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, has entered the efficient trio made-up of Sébastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (no. 1), Elfyn Evans-Daniel Barritt (no. 2) and Teemu Suninen-Mikko Markkula (no. 3), all of them on board of a Ford Fiesta WRC. Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT has entered three Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC for Andreas Mikkelsen-Anders Jaeger (no. 4), Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gilsoul (no. 5) and Dani Sordo-Carlos del Barrio (no. 6). Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT will be represented by three Toyota Yaris WRC for Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (no. 7), Ott Tänak-Martin Järveoja (no. 8) and Esapekka Lappi-Janne Ferm (no. 9). Last but not least, Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT has entered their three works crews in this rally: Sébastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (no. 10), Craig Breen-Scott Martin (no. 11) and Khalid Al Qassimi-Chris Patterson (no. 12), the three of them with a Citroën C3 WRC.

The remaining two WRCars are the Ford Fiesta WRC with Ken Block-Alex Gelsomino, in their only participation in a rally in this year, and the Citroën DS3 WRC of the French crew Jean-Michel Raoux-Laurent Magat.

WRC2: Fight and Quantity
The WRC2 category continues to raise extraordinary interest, which is shown by the entry of 21 vehicles of the R5 class, all of them eager to score points, plus 4 identical vehicles that will not be scoring at this race. The favourite for the victory is the leader of the championship, Jan Kopecky-Pavel Dresler (Skoda Fabia R5), although the most interesting feature will be watching a series of drivers who will be getting all the attention, such as the Spanish crews Nil Solans-Marc Martí (Ford Fiesta R5), José Antonio Suárez-Cándido Carrera (Hyundai i20 R5) and Pepe López-Borja Rozada (Citroën C3 R5), all of them in their last world championship participation of the season.

News will also be produced by the two drivers of the Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, that will be having its world debut at the RallyRACC driven by Eric Camilli and former World Champion, Petter Solberg. Last but not least, it will also be interesting to follow the performance of the three Citroën C3 R5, driven by the aforementioned Pepe López and by private entrant Simone Tempestini, but especially the works unit driven by Stéphane Lefebvre.

WRC2 is also an excellent platform for talented drivers, such as Kalle Rovanperä from Finland and Marco Bulacia from Bolivia, both at the wheel of a Skoda Fabia R5. Both of them will be turning 18 years old a few days before the RallyRACC, so that they both will be able to drive on open roads for the first time in Spain, something that they had to give over to their respective co-drivers so far. Rovanperä is the son of the former Seat works driver, while Bulacia took the victory at a round of the Spanish Gravel Rally Championship a few weeks ago.

47 Spanish drivers and co-drivers
Dani Sordo-Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC no. 6) are the only Spanish tandem which is part of a works team. Worth to be mentioned among the rest of the Spanish crews, in addition to those that were already mentioned in WRC2, are the Catalan champion Albert Orriols-Lluís Pujolar (Skoda Fabia R5); the return of former Spanish champion Oriol Gómez (Peugeot 208 VTI R2); and the only women's team in the race, Anna Tallada-Laura Camps (Ford Fiesta R2T), amongst others.

This significant list of Spanish drivers includes participants of the three championships of which the RallyRACC is a scoring round. The first of them is the Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica, with the top trio Roberto Blach-José Murado (leaders), Pep Bassas-Manel Muñoz, and Diogo Gago-Miguel Ramalho, who are currently second, and several other crews.

Then there is the Beca Junior R2, with many participants also participating in the Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica. In this case, Jan Solans-Mauro Barreiro, already crowned champions, will want to close the season with another victory. Last but not least, the N5 RMC Cup will have their top three drivers at the start: Efrén Llarena-Sara Fernández (Peugeot 308 N5), Francisco Cima-Diego San Juan (Renault Clio N5) and Roberto Rozada-Yeray Mújica (Ford Fiesta N5).

Short Schedule of the 54 RallyRACC
22 October – Opening of the HQ (PortAventura Convention Centre)
23 and 24 October – Reconnaissance of the stages
25 October – Shakedown, Ceremonial Start (13.15h) and Barcelona stage (18.08h)
26 October – Rally Day 1 (from 8.00h to 20.35h)
27 October – Rally Day 2 (from 6.45h to 18.15h)
28 October – Rally Day 3 (from 6.45h to 14.01h)