RACC launches 4th Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de les Caves

26/02/2020

• 41 vehicles will take part in this event for classic cars organised by the RACC
• The start will be given on Friday 28 February at Avenida de la Catedral in Barcelona
• The entry list includes nine foreign crews and prominent names in regularity racing in Spain, as well as Antonio Zanini, with the 1972 Simca 1000 GT
• Highlight of this fourth edition is the presence of SEAT Coches Históricos team, including drivers like Mia Bardolet (SEAT 1400B)
• The Rally Catalunya is associated with the Ypres Historic Rally from Belgium by means of an agreement with the aim of promoting the two rallies with the largest history in Europe: Catalunya and Ypres.
• The last winner of the Belgian rally, Ruben Maes-Michael Perin (Porsche 914/6), will take part in this edition of the rally
• The event will be raced on two days, with a linear route of 578 km, split into 14 stages on closed roads and 153 km regularity

The RACC has unveiled the itinerary of the 4th edition of the Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de les Caves at its headquarters. The regularity challenge for classic cars organised by the Club will be staged on 28 and 29 February, and will be recalling the legendary ‘Rally de les Caves' for the second year in a row. This rally was staged between 1970 and 1983 and later evolved to become the current RallyRACC. The highlights among the novelties introduced this year are the itinerary that will include several stages of the world rally championship round and Salou, that will be the base of the event for the first time.

The launch event was chaired by Club President Josep Mateu and the Mayor of Salou, Pere Granados, among other authorities. A large part of the 41 entered crews coming from Spain, France, Belgium and Portugal attended the event as well.

Two days of regularity on stages of the world rally championship

The 4th Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de les Caves will be staged in two legs making up a route of 577.82 km, including 152.97 km of linear regularity on closed roads. None of the stages will be repeated. The crews will cover 14 stages along these two days. Although some of them were already raced during the past edition of the Rally, this year's itinerary includes special stages of the RallyRACC CATALUNYA-COSTA DAURADA, a fact that strengthens the extra class of this event. Moreover, Salou will be, for the first time, the base of this event, just as it is for the world championship event, with the parc fermé and the podium located on the Promenade.

Friday 28 February: 6 stages from Barcelona to Salou, like the RallyRACC
Next Friday 28 February, at 12.30h, the participants will start from Avenida de la Catedral de Barcelona and continue to Subirats (Mirador de les Caves), after the respective documentation checks and scrutineering. The first stage, "Font-Rubí" (4.51 km), will start at 15.36h. The stages that will make-up this first day are: "Puig de les Agulles" (9.27 km/15.58 h), "Pontons" (5.91 km/16.26 h) and, after a 20-minute regrouping in Aiguaviva-El Montmell, the start will be given for the "El Montmell" stage (13.76 km) at 17.13h. The last part of the first leg will consist of the stages "L'Albiol" (9.69 km/18.31 h) and "Riudecanyes" (16.37 km/19.17 h).

The parc fermé in Salou will be opened for the arriving participants at 20.15h. Given the fact that this year there are three entry modalities, all participants having chosen the ‘Premium or All-included' option, will have dinner at Hotel Regente Aragón in Salou, with a menu designed by the chef of the restaurant Deliranto, which has one Michelin star.

Saturday 29 February: 8 stages and closing ceremony at the hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona
The crews will start from the podium in Salou at 9.00h on Saturday 29 February and cover 93.46 km of regularity. It will be the longest day. The 6 participants who chose the ‘One Day' entry option will join the event on this day, after the respective documentation checks and scrutineering.

The day will start with a former world championship stage: "Duesaigües" (16.20 km), at 9.38h. The morning section will include also the stages "La Mussara" (10.06 km/10.38 h), "El Pont d'Armentera" (21.56 km/11.52 h) and "Savallà-Conesa" (13.88 km/12.42 h).

After lunch and regrouping in Santa Coloma de Queralt, the crews will face the final part of the rally, which consists of 4 stages as well: "Vallespinosa" (6.17 km/15.28 h), "Querol" (9.25 km/15.52 h), "Òdena" (7.48 km/16.57 h) and "Talamanca" (8.86 km/17.45 h). After this last special, the crews will proceed to the final parc fermé of the event, which will be located at the hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona, sponsor of the event, together with the Salou Tourism Board.

Rally Catalunya and the "Historic Regularity Challenge"
Another novelty of this fourth edition is the agreement reached between the RACC and the Belgian organiser Ypres Historic Rally to create the "Historic Regularity Challenge", a championship with the aim of promoting and sharing the experiences of both events.

The winner of the Rally Catalunya Històric 2020 will get a free entry for the Ypres Historic Regularity Rally 2020 (27 to 29 November), while the winning crew of the Belgian race will get a free entry for the Rally Catalunya Històric 2021 in the Premium modality (all included). Moreover, the overall winner of the "Historic Regularity Challenge" will be able to enter the prestigious Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique 2021 for free.

The ‘R' for the winner
The hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona will be the venue of the prize-giving ceremony during the gala dinner of the Rally Catalunya Històric, starting at 21.30h, on Saturday 29, with the attendance of the authorities and all of the participants.

The top three classified crews will be awarded with the "R" the valuable special trophy of the RACC. The top crew in each class, the top foreign crew, the top RACC member crew, and the crew with the oldest vehicle, will also be awarded with a prize, provided that they finish the rally. All of the crews participating in both days of the event and crossing the finish line will receive the ‘Finisher Trophy'.

Antonio Zanini participates with the 1972 Simca 1000 GT

The entry list of the Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de les Caves includes one outstanding participant: Antonio Zanini at the wheel of his 1972 Simca 1000 GT, with Josep Autet to his right-hand side. Zanini, five-time winner of this race in the decade of the 1970s and 1980s, will be racing this event with the car he used to take part in 1972 as amateur driver. After a great performance at the rally, and despite hitting the Simca during the edition of that year, his performance opened the doors for him to become part of the SEAT Competición team.

9 foreign crews with options to win
In addition to the duo Zanini-Autet, there will be a large number of significant drivers specialised in regularity events. There will be eight French teams and one Belgian-French team. Three of them will be participating in the Regularidad Súper Sport class: Anthony Guillemat-Cristophe Cruzet (Porsche 911 SC Gr.4), who will be the first ones to drive down the podium at Avenida de la Catedral de Barcelona; Christophe Berteloot-Aurélie Vanbelle (Porsche 911 SC); and Philippe Guillemat-Cristophe Fournerie (Volkswagen 1303 S). The class will be completed by Lluís Coma-Cros-Daniel Ferreiro (Porsche 930) and Marc Mayoral-María José Ribal (Volkswagen Scirocco GTX).

Another highlight is the participation of the Belgian team made-up of Ruben Maes-Michael Périn (Porsche 914/6), who are specialists in European regularity and winners of several events, including the 2019 Ypres Historic Regularity de 2019.

Great national specialists
The entry list includes the names of other experts in the regularity speciality. There are, for example, the winners of the first edition of the historic rally of the RACC, staged in 2017, Carles Miró-Ivan Matavacas (Porsche 911 SC), as well as other outstanding teams: Juan Pedro García-Sergi Giralt (Autobianchi A-112 Abarth); the ‘Nenas Team' with Tere Armadans-Anna Vives (Volkswagen Golf GTI MK1); Joan Pedragosa-Josep Beltri (BMW 318i E21); José Manuel López Sobrado-Antonio Caldeira (Volkswagen Scirocco GTi); Francesc Segú-Joaquim Segú (Porsche 914/4) and many others.

The winning crews of previous editions will be at the start
Several crews of the SEAT Históricos team will be taking part in this edition of the race, including the cars that won the two last editions: the Seat 124 Especial 1800 Gr.4, which will be driven this time by Vicenç Aguilera and his daughter Elisabet Aguilera; and the Seat Ibiza GLX 1.5 driven by Joan Dalmau and Gerard Massana. They will be joined by the winner of the first edition of the event staged in 2017, the Porsche of Miró-Matavacas that is taking part in this edition as well.

SEAT Históricos has brought a strong team, led by former Spanish champion Josep Maria Bardolet-Carles Jiménez, who will be taking part with a SEAT 1400B from 1957, which is precisely the year that marked the start of the Rally Catalunya. Bardolet and the 1400B achieved a brilliant sixteenth overall position at the last Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique.