12/09/2007
23 WRCars among the 84 entered teams

The 43 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, 12th scoring round of the World Rally Championship (out of 16) and the sixth and penultimate round of the JWRC, to be staged from October 5th to 7th, will be counting on a total of 84 entered teams. This large number of participants is with no doubt good proof of the large interest and attractiveness of the Spanish round of the World Championship. The large variety of entered vehicles, including 23 World Rally Cars, 32 Group A with front-wheel drive (Super 1600 and 2.0 litres) and 29 Group N/A cars, will be driven by the currently best drivers, who will have to cover a highly selective route, starting and arriving on the Promenade of the city of Salou, and having as its nerve centre the PortAventura theme park.

Six official teams registered in the manufacturers' world championship head the list of drivers entered and accepted by RACC Motor Sport, organiser of the 2007 RallyRACC. Citroën Total WRT will thus be in Catalonia with its usual drivers, Frenchman and three-times world champion Sébastien Loeb, and the Spanish RACC driver, Daniel Sordo, both at the wheel of a C4 WRC. BP Ford WRT, champion and current leader of the manufacturers' and drivers' championship, will be represented by the Finnish driver Marcus Grönholm and his fellow citizen Mikko Hirvonen, both with the 2007 version of the Ford Focus RS WRC. A priori, these two teams are the main favourites for the final victory but we should not forget the official Subaru team and their three drivers, Petter Solberg from Norway, Chris Atkinson from Australia and RACC driver Xevi Pons.

Moreover, the OMV Kronos Citroën WRT team will be attending the rally with Austrian driver Manfred Stohl and Belgian driver François Duval, highly motivated after the second place achieved at the Rally Germany, both at the wheel of an Xsara WRC. The Stobart VK M-Sport team, with the young Finnish driver Jari-Matti Latvala and the Norwegian Henning Solberg, and the Munchi's Ford WRT team complete the list of FIA prioritary drivers with Luis Pérez Companc and Federico Villagra from Argentina, all of them driving a Ford Focus RS WRC 2006. As regards the privateers with WRCars, there are several Ford Focus supported by the official team (Khalid Al-Qassimi, Matthew Wilson, Gareth Jones), as well as the Skoda Fabia WRC of the Czech Rally Team, with the Czech driver Jan Kopecky, who has always been very efficient on the Spanish asphalt.

The FIA Junior Rally Championship, having its penultimate round of the year in Catalonia and everything yet to be decided, will also count on a large representation. A total of 20 teams have entered, including the Suzuki Swift S1600 of the Estonian driver Urmo Aava and the Swedish driver Per-Gunnar Andersson, currently on the top two positions of the standings; the Renault Clio R3 of Patrik Sandell, on provisional third position and current champion of the series; as well as the Suzuki Swift S1600 and the Citroën C2 S1600 of the Estonian Jaan Mölder and the Czech Martin Prokop, respectively.

Large Spanish representation

In addition to Dani Sordo and Xevi Pons, the list of Spanish drivers having announced their participation in the 43 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA is large and significant. They make up the 25 remaining entrants, and include well-known names such as the former JWRC champion and current Spanish Champion Dani Solà (Honda Civic Type R); Manuel Rueda (Renault Clio R3); the current Catalan Champion, Jordi Zurita (Peugeot 307 WRC); or Yeray Lemes (Citroën C2 S1600), who will be taking part as a wild card in the Junior class. There will be also participants at wheel of other different vehicles: Subaru Impreza (Manuel Córdoba, Albert Orriols), Mitsubishi Lancer (Joan Font, Alvaro Muñiz, Pedro Font, Francisco Javier Paz, Ramon Montlleó); Renault Clio (Sergio Pérez); Ford Fiesta (Heriberto Godoy) and Fiat Punto (Manuel Redondo), among others. All of these drivers have been able to benefit from the help offered by the RACC, i.e. a 50% discount on the entry fee.