16/05/2007
18 specials make up the route of the 43 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA

The route of the 43 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA is made-up by 18 special stages, two of which have been newly added (Coll del Grau and La Serra d'Almos, both in Leg 2), while the Riudecanyes stage has been extended by four kilometres in its initial part. Furthermore, the Vilaplana stage has been slightly changed. These are the novelties included by RACC Motor Sport, organiser of the race, in the itinerary consisting of fast and spectacular stages, all of them located in the area of Tarragona with a configuration focussed on the safety of participants and spectators, the number of which has been increasing a every new edition.

With the podium located in the tourist city of Salou and the service park in PortAventura, the first stage will be held on Friday, October 5th, starting at 07.00 a.m. to cover 6 special stages (148,05 Km) and arriving from 07.20 p.m. at the park fermé, followed by the compulsory flexi service according to the regulations of the world championship.

The second leg will be raced on Saturday, October 6th, this time comprising 8 specials covering 119.16 kilometres, with PortAventura once again as the epicentre of a race day that will last from 8.00 a.m. to 05.03 p.m. approx.. The third and last leg will start at 07.30 a.m. on Sunday 7th and the last of its four specials will be starting at 01.00 p.m. including two specials that will be covered twice, an intermediate assistance and a total of 85.66 timed kilometres.

A very selective first leg

Just like in the 2006 edition of the RallyRACC, the two passages of the Querol (25.43 Km) and El Montmell (24.14 Km) specials, with assistances at the end of the first loop, will open the first leg of the RallyRACC. It will be a hard and selective start followed by two different specials with an average length of 24 Km per special. These two stages which participants will have to cover only once are El Lloar-La Figuera (22.43 Km) and Pratdip (26.48 Km) and will be closing the day. The asphalt of this first leg will be n very good condition since one section in Querol will be reasphalted before October.

The main novelties are in the second leg

The second race day will be made-up by 8 special stages. It will start with Vilaplana, shorter and with some changes with respect to the previous edition; it's 13.9 Km have been completely reasphalted and 98% of the route has been fitted with a guardrail, clearly increasing the safety of this mythical stage. It will be followed by Coll del Grau, this year's big novelty. It is a long special of 26.33 Km which is part of a four-stage loop (together with Vilaplana, Margalef-La Palma d'Ebre and La Serra d'Almos) of almost 60 timed kilometres without assistance, making a possible decisive part of the rally. Coll del Grau is not only long, but also highly selective, with continuous pace changes combining fast sections with twisty sections on an even and new surface that will not allow any kind of concessions.

La Serra d'Almos is a further inclusion in the RallyRACC 2007. It will not only serve as Shakedown section (as in 2006) but also as a special that will be raced in the opposite sense -from La Serra d'Almos to Tivissa-, closing the stage after the second passage. It is the shortest stage of the event (4.11 Km), and its configuration allows to build a large spectator area making it ideal to follow the action live.

The longest stage closes the rally

The last stage will be raced exclusively on two special stages, Riudecanyes (16.32 Km) and Colldejou (26.51 Km), which participants will have to cover twice. The last stage is however the longest of the event so that participants will have to challenge a hard test before the finish. Colldejou is the Pratdip of the first leg but raced in the opposite sense, while Riudecanyes will cover a road section that had already been used in 1999 and 2000, though in the opposite sense, including at the beginning 4 kilometres of the old A road. It has very spectacular sections that offer the public an excellent vision.