3rd Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de Les Caves: Salvador Cañellas and SEAT, back on top after 46 years

03/03/2019

See in Newsletter format

· The historic winner of 1973 repeats his deed, this time with Carles Jiménez as co-driver
· Many alternatives on the top, with 5 different leaders along the race and 14 stage winners
· Joan Pedragosa-Josep Beltri (BMW 318i) were fighting for the victory until the last stage
· Excellent development of an event that had it all: quality, battles and thrill

The crew made up of Salvador Cañellas-Carles Jiménez (SEAT 124 Especial 1800) took the overall victory of the third edition of the Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de Les Caves, a regularity event for classic cars staged this weekend and organised by the RACC. The event covered a total of 610 km, including 152.87 km split into 14 regularity stages, all of them different and on closed roads.

Although the start (Avenida de la Catedral) and the finish (Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar) were located in the city of Barcelona, the competitive itinerary took participants through the regions of Anoia, Bages, Alt Camp, Alt Penedès and Baix Penedès, and Conca de Barberà. Some of the roads used were the same used years ago by the legendary Rally de Les Caves and currently by the RallyRACC in the world championship.

41 crews took the start on Friday, with some really famous names, such as the eventual winner, Salvador Cañellas (Seat 124-1800), who won the Rally Catalunya-Rally de Les Caves back in 1973, when it was a rally run against the clock, and Antonio Zanini (Simca 1200 Ti), winner of no less than 5 editions of this race in the 1970s and 80s.

Friday with different winners in each stage
The first rally day was made-up of six stages, two of them run at night. José Manuel López-Gerard Ferrer (VW Scirocco) made the lowest score in "Font-Rubí" which gave them the provisional lead. In "La Llacuna", the best were Carles Miró-Ivan Matavacas (Porsche 911 SC), although it was Juan Pedro García-Sergi Giralt (Autobianchi A-112 Abarth) who managed to take the overall lead, a position that they kept after "Querol", a stage won by Jordi Martí-Joan Martí (Ford Escort 2.0). The changes on the top were constant, and in "La Joncosa de Montmell" there was even a tie in the win, between Tere Armadans-Anna Vives (VW Golf GTI) and Joan Pedragosa-Josep Beltri (BMW 318i E21), and there was a new provisional rally leader: Salvador Cañellas-Carles Jiménez (SEAT 124 D Especial 1800).

The rally reached the regroup in El Vendrell with a dozen drivers wishing to finish the day on top, and the two following night stages were truly intense. In "Les Ventoses" the best score went to Juan Pedro García-Sergi Giralt (Autobianchi), who returned onto the top of the provisional overall classification, while in "Montagut" the win went to a new crew, Josep Maria Molas-Ramon Ferrés (Ford Escort 2000 RS), and the overall lead was taken by Tere Armadans-Anna Vives (VW Golf GTI), showing the incredible equality among the crews. The sad news in this last special was the retirement of Juan Pedro García-Sergi Giralt, winners of the 2018 Catalan Regularity Cup, who went off the track with their Autobianchi from DriverCars, so that the rally lost one of the top favourites.

Saturday with strong emotions
The eagerness to take the leading role on Saturday was clear after the night spent at Le Méridien Ra. The intentions of the female crew Armadans-Vives were obvious right after the start. They won "Vallespinosa" but with the same score as Pedregosa-Beltri (BMW) and Frenchmen Anthony Guillemat-Cristophe Cruzet (Porsche 911 SC), and therefore, the girls remained on top. "Savallà-Conesa", the eighth special stage, had a new stage winner: Pau Coma Cros-Marcos Rivero (Porsche 911 2.7), while Salvador Cañellas-Carles Jiménez (SEAT 124-1800) took over the provisional overall top position again. It was now time for the difficult stage "Puig de les Aguiles" which went to Philippe Guillemat-Christophe Fournerie (Porsche 914/6), while Cañellas-Jiménez managed to keep the leadership with an advantage of half a second over the female crew Armadans-Vives. In "Pontons" the best partial classification went to Marc Mayoral-María José Ribal (Volkswagen Scirocco GTX), while the girls spun, giving the chance to the efficient Cañellas-Jiménez to consolidate their leading position.

After the regroup in Aiguaviva-El Montmell, there were four stages left to cover, which would decide the final composition of the podium. Miró-Matavacas took another stage win, "Can Ferrer", and Molas-Ferrés took their second stage win in "El Pont d'Armentera", this time with the same score as Kini Muntada-Marc Erra (Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2). The highlight of this second leg came in "Ódena", a stage that was won by Francesc Segú-Joaquim Segú (Porsche 914/4) and Sergi Francolí-Josep Mª Francolí (Lotus Elan S/E) with the same score. After this stage, Pedragosa-Beltri took the lead from Cañellas-Jiménez, so that "Talamanca" would pass the final sentence, considering that both crews were only 1 tenth apart.

The victory was decided on the last stage
Completely focussed, both crews entered the battle… and the victory went eventually to Salvador Cañellas-Carles Jiménez (Seat 124-1800). They did not win the stage, but they were better than their rivals, and were therefore able to take the overall win of the Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de Les Caves, a triumph for which they worked hard from the start to the very last instant. This special was won by Frenchmen Guillemat-Cruzet, who made a great rally, finishing on fifth position.

This is the second victory of this event, organised by the RACC, that was won by a crew of the SEAT Coches Históricos team, and also of the excellent co-driver Carles Jiménez, a true human computer, confirming that he is an essential assistance for the driver sitting next to him: this year it was Salvador Cañellas and in 2018 it was Josep Viaplana.

Salvador Cañellas, a true legend of motor sports, currently 74 years old, managed to win this regularity event, after winning it back in 1973, when it was a speed rally. Cañellas, also known as "el nen", has thus added a new triumph to his long list of victories in competitions in cars and on motorcycles of all types.

The list of participants included Josep Mateu and Xavier Pérez, RACC President and General Manager, respectively, at the wheel of vehicles of the SEAT Coches Históricos team. Mateu-Vilatarsana (Seat 1430/1600) finished in an excellent 15th overall position, while Madrazo-Pérez (Seat 124 Sport 1600) finished 17th.

The 3rd Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de les Caves has counted on the official sponsorship of Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona and Andbank; and the Barcelona County Council and the El Vendrell Town Council as institutional sponsors; the support of the Town Councils of El Montmell and Barcelona, and the collaboration of Blunik, Sport and AutoHebdo Sport.

The prizes, were awarded during the gala dinner at Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona by senior officials of the RACC and members of the club's Sports Commission, as well as by Maite Fandos, Sports Delegate of the Barcelona County Council; Gabriel Arranz, Director of Sports Events Promotion of the Barcelona City Council; Joan Ollé, President of the Catalan Motor Sport Federation; Imma Costa, Mayor of El Montmell; and representatives of Hilton Diagonal Mar and Andbank.

Complete information about the event: www.rallycatalunyahistoric.com

Final Classification 3rd Rally Catalunya-Rally de les Caves
1-Salvador Cañellas-Carles Jiménez (E/Seat 124 D Especial 1800 gr. 4/1975), 29.8 points
2-Joan Pedragosa-Josep Beltri (E/BMW 318i E21/1981), 31.1 points
3-Tere Armadans-Anna Vives (E/Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk I/1979), 34.1 points
4-Carles Miró-Ivan Matavacas (E/Porsche 911 SC/1979), 34.6 points
5-Anthony Guillemat-Christophe Cruzet (F/Porsche 911 SC gr. 4/1981), 36.3 points
6-Josep Maria Molas-Ramon Ferrés (E/Ford Escort 2000 RS Mk II/1978), 36.3 points
7-José Manuel López-Gerard Ferrer (E/Volkswagen Scirocco GTi/1980), 37.7 points
8-Francesc Segú-Joaquim Segú (E/Porsche 914/4/1971), 39.4 points
9-Kini Muntada-Marc Erra (E/Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2/1984), 46.2 points
10-Pau Coma-Cros-Marcos Rivero (E/Porsche 911 2.7/1977), 50.2 points
11-Vicenç Aguilera-Elisabet Aguilera (E/Seat Ibiza 1.5 GLX/1984), 54.1 points
12-Antonio Zanini-Joan Jordan (E/Simca 1200 TI/1978), 58.8 points
13-Ramón Arqués-Jordi Montoliu (E/Peugeot 205 GTI 1.6/1984), 60.0 points
14-Andreu Vigué-Josep Maria Casas (E/Renault 5 Turbo 2/1983), 65.3 points
15-Josep Mateu-Kim Vilatarsana (E/Seat 1430 Especial 1600/1974), 67.8 points
In total 39 classified crews

Winners by classes
F (until 1965): Didier Chabrier-Bruno Bellmas (F/Porsche 911 2.0/1965)
G (until 1971): Francesc Segú-Joaquim Segú (E/Porsche 914/4/1971)
H (until 1976): Salvador Cañellas-Carles Jiménez (E/Seat 124 D Especial 1800 gr. 4/1975)
I (until 1981): Joan Pedragosa-Josep Beltri (E/BMW 318i E21/1981)
J (until 1984): Kini Muntada-Marc Erra (E/Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2/1984)
K (until 1988): Eduard García-Ferran Alves (E/Volkswagen Scirocco 1.8 16V/1988)

Oldest vehicle: Sergi Francolí-Josep Mª Francolí (E/Lotus Elan SE/1966)
Most veteran crew: Manel Ramírez-Joan Martín (E/Ford Capri II XL 1.6/1975)
First foreign crew: Anthony Guillemat-Christophe Cruzet (F/Porsche 911 SC gr. 4/1981)
RACC Member: Salvador Cañellas-Carles Jiménez (E/Seat 124 D Especial 1800 gr. 4/1975)