15 special stages make up the Spanish round of the World Rally Championship
from 27 to 30 October

The 41st Rally RACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA will gather the most selected road sections of Tarragona

The itinerary of the 41st Rally RACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada, sponsored by Movistar for the eighth consecutive year, has been designed for the first time in the history of the Spanish WRC round, completely on the roads of Tarragona, fulfilling all requirements as regards kilometres and logistics set by the FIA for the Rally World Championship. The race, which will be held from 27 to 30 October will move around the whole Tarragona area.

The 41st Rally RACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA will cover a total of 1,324.70 kms, 358.10 of which will be divided into 15 special stages consisting of 9 different routes, 6 of which will be covered twice.

With its nerve centre located in the important tourist enclave made-up by Salou (start and finish of the race and venue of the prize-giving ceremony) and the theme park Port Aventura (parc fermé, service park, HQ and media room), the 15th round of the WRC will be running all its special stages on highly selective roads, which have already been witness to the best rally drivers and vehicles during the last decade.

Unlike the first two events within the world championship (1991 and 1992) as well as the two last editions of the rally (2003 y 2004), where none of the legs were carried out in the area of Tarragona, this 41st edition of the Spanish World Championship round, will be completely managed from and run in this area.

During the years passed since the last time the rally visited the southern part of Catalonia, a large part of the roads included in the itinerary of the 41st Rally RACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA has been reasphalted and some of the stage turns have even been changed in order to improve comfort and safety for the daily traffic, so that the drivers are going to find considerable changes with respect to the 2002 edition, which was the last time the Catalan rally went past Tarragona.

Podium in Salou, and Service Park in Port Aventura
After the usual ceremonial start in the late afternoon on Thursday, 27 October, in order to let the participants move from Salou to the parc fermé in Port Aventura (little less than 2 kilometres away) the real first leg (Friday, 28 October) will be starting from the theme park at 7.15 a.m. to cover 6 special stages (156.15 kms) and finish in the same place at around 06.49 p.m., depending on the flexi-service marked by the world championship regulations.

On Saturday, 29 October, the second leg will be starting at 07.30 a.m. with another six stages over 142 kms, always with the epicentre in Port Aventura, with estimated arrival at 06.31 p.m.

The third and last leg will be staged between Port Aventura and Salou, starting at 08.00 a.m. and finishing at 01.20 p.m., with three special stages that will already have been covered during the previous legs, making up a total of 60 kms.

Complying with the world championship regulations, all service park stops – a total of nine during the three legs – will be held on the large areas delimited to that effect within the facilities of Port Aventura, which already hosted the rally in 2001 and 2002, namely the service park of the second and the first leg of the race, respectively.

First leg recovers stages from ten years ago
The Querol stage (26 kms), 1st and 5th of the race is actually a remake of the former stage known as Pont d’Armentera (ran from 1993 to 1995). To be precise, it is made up by 14 new kms at the beginning which are connected to 12 kms of the old stage but run in opposite direction. Thus, the special stage finishes in the village that ten years ago gave the name to the stage: el Pont d’Armentera.

The 2nd and 6th stage, El Montmell (23.95 kms), is almost identical to the old Can Ferrer stage, also ran between 1993 and 1995, although, as in the case of the previous stage, it will be run in the opposite direction, meaning start in Vila-Rodona and finish in Sant Jaume dels Domenys.

The 3rd and 13th special, the latter run during the third leg, is Vilaplana (28.40 kms), a combination of two mythic stages of the area, namely the initial 22.4 kms of the well-known La Riba stage (starting nearby Vilaplana) and 6 kms of the Capafons stage (with the stage finishing in that village), which was staged twice during the 1995 edition.

The 4th stage of the first leg, Pratdip (27.85 kms), is identical to the stage run under the same name in 2002, between La Torre de Fontaubella and El Coll de Fatxes.

Known stages for the 2nd leg
The second race day starts with the 7th stage – which will later be the 11th as well–, El Lloar-La Figuera (23 kms), with slightly different design compared to the several versions marked on the T-712 and T-730 roads. Specifically, this special stage is very similar to the old La Figuera stage with the initial section being identical to the Escaladei stage run in 2002.

Special number 8 and 12 of the second leg is called Capafonts (28.40 kms) and matches exactly the special called Vilaplana, which is raced during the first and third leg, but in opposite direction, i.e. from Capafonts to Vilaplana.

Colldejou (27.85 kms) is the 9th special and actually the Pratdip stage of the first leg, but run in opposite direction, i.e. this time heading for La Torre de Fontaubella, a stage that was already raced in exactly the same version in 2001.

The 10th and 14th stage, the latter run in the third leg, is Riudecanyes (11.30 kms), a road section already used in 1999 and 2002, this time however in opposite direction, starting after Coll de La Teixeta and finishing before the village of Riudecanyes.

3rd and last leg, a summary of the first two
The third leg is made-up by a second run of the Vilaplana (1st leg), Riudecanyes (2nd leg) stages and the Santa Marina stage (20.30 kms), which is no other than the Colldejou stage of the second leg but 7.55 kms shorter at the beginning, starting in Santa Marina instead of in Coll de Fatxes.