55 RallyRACC, key round in the WRC calendar

22/06/2019

The 55 RallyRACC CATALUNYA-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2019, will be a key round for the awardinf tof the world titles of Drivers, Manufactureres, WRC2 Pro and WRC2. Two Spanish championships will have a scoring round at the RallyRACC as well: Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica and Beca Junior R2.

The 55 RallyRACC will be the penultimate scoring round of a world championship, and if the season continues like this, the top positions will not have been decided before the Spanish round. Citroën, Hyundai, M-Sport Ford and Toyota will bring a group of top works drivers. So far, three of the four participating manufacturers have taken a victory: 3 by Toyota Gazoo (all by Tänak), 3 by Hyundai Shell Mobis (2 by Neuville and 1 by Sordo) and 2 by Citroën Total (all of them by Ogier).

After the rally staged last weekend in Sardinia, the current leader of the World Championship is Ott Tänak (Toyota) followed by Sébastien Ogier (Citroën), 4 points behind, and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), 7 points behind. Elfyn Evans (Ford), Teemu Suninen (Ford), Kris Meeke (Toyota), Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) and Dani Sordo (Hyundai) follow them in the standings.

Costa Daurada, Salou and PortAventura World
For the fifteenth year in a row, Costa Daurada, the city of Salou and the PortAventura World theme and leisure park will be the nerve centres of the RallyRACC. The seaside town of Salou will be once again the world centre of the WRC during a whole week, with the international bustle, and activities of all types for fans and the public in general. In addition to the Salou Town Council, the 55 RallyRACC counts also on the collaboration of the Tarragona County Council, the Tourism Board of the Costa Daurada, the Tourism Board of Salou, PortAventura World, the General Secretariat of Sports of the Catalan Government, the Catalan Tourism Agency and Toyota.

RallyRACC and the FIA World Rally Championship
The RallyRACC reaches this year its 55 edition. In 2014 it celebrated its 50th anniversary and in 2015 the 25th consecutive edition as a scoring round towards the FIA World Championship, as the former Rally Catalunya entered the World Championship calendar in 1991. In these 29 years in the championship, the RallyRACC has been based for 14 years in Lloret de Mar (Costa Brava) and for 15 years (this year included) in Salou and PortAventura World (Costa Daurada).

1916 The ‘Volta Automobilistica a Catalunya' is born
1957 Creation of the Rallye Catalunya-Volta a Catalunya, scoring round towards the Spanish Championship
1973 Organisation of the Rally Cataluña-Rallye de las Cavas of the Spanish Championship
1980 The Rally Catalunya becomes part of the European Championship
1988 Merger of Rally Catalunya and Rally Costa Brava in the European Championship
1991 1st edition of the Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava, scoring round towards the World Rally   Championship
2005 The RallyRACC CATALUNYA-COSTA DAURADA is born (Salou and PortAventura)
2014 The RallyRACC CATALUNYA celebrates its 50th anniversary
2019 29 consecutive years of RallyRACC in the FIA World Rally Championship

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