The 41st Rally RACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada will take the World Championship to the Catalan region of Tarragona

Tarragona 3rd March 2005 - The Costa Daurada and the roads of Tarragona will be the venue of this year’s edition of the Rally RACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada, fifteenth scoring round of the World Rally Championship to be held from 27 to 30 October, organised by the RACC and sponsored by Telefónica Movistar and Würth.

With the priority of not leaving Catalonia, the region of Tarragona has been the alternative with most possibilities and interest to host the rally, in addition to the fact of having already been part of the race in other editions, with one of the legs of the Rally Catalunya being raced there.

The Tourist Board of the Tarragona Council, the Salou Town Council, the Port Aventura theme park and the Tarragona Chamber of Commerce have joined to co-operate with the RACC, with the aim of creating an exciting and completely feasible alternative, efficiently dealing with all the requirements set by the regulations of the FIA for the World Rally Championship.

The Tarragona institutions and the RACC have signed an agreement for two years, according to which the city of Salou and the Port Aventura theme park will be hosting the headquarters of the event, comprising all rally services, such as centre of operations, press room, parc fermé or working area of the participating teams.

Salou will be the venue of the ceremonial start on Thursday, as well as the podium and the final prize-giving ceremony, while the Service Park will be located in the facilities of Port Aventura, the theme park located less then two kilometres from Salou. The Hotel Port Aventura will also be the base of the Rally HQ and the pressroom.

The large parking area of Port Aventura already hosted the Service Park of the Rally Catalunya for two years, when one of the legs led through the roads of Tarragona.

Once the agreement with the Tarragona institutions that are going to co-operate with the organisation of the rally was signed, the RACC began with the project of determining the possible routes for the Rally RACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada. The schedule of the event will be according to the WRC regulations, i.e. two reconnaissance days, one shakedown day and three race days. Within this schedule, there will also be the remaining rally activities such as scrutineering, press conferences, team presentations and other parallel activities that make up the usual atmosphere surrounding a scoring round of the WRC.

This Rally RACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada will continue with the tradition Catalonia has kept regarding this motor sports speciality and will once again give Spanish fans the chance to see the best drivers of the world, this year including the Catalan driver Dani Solà, within the official Ford team.

In 1988, the interest of having a Catalan event in the World Championship calendar lead to the fusion of two of the most important rallies of the country, the Rally Catalunya and the Rally Costa Brava, which joined their names and established their headquarters in Lloret de Mar. In 1991, the Rally Catalunya-Costa Brava became part of the WRC and since then has kept itself in the calendar. The fact of leaving the area of Lloret de Mar has caused another change of the name, and the round organised by the RACC, the 41st this year, will now be known as Rally RACC Catalunya–Costa Daurada, keeping its status as scoring round of the World Championship for constructors, drivers and the Junior World Rally Championship.

Calendar of the 2005 World Rally Championship