RallyRACC 2012: Race action and spectators getting closer together

(24/10/2012)

Presentation RallyRACC 2012 in Barcelona

RACC continues innovating and joins efforts with Barcelona and Salou to bring the rally closer to the public. This was the premise at the official presentation of the 48 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2012 held today, both in Madrid and Barcelona, during which the media representatives got to know first-hand all the details of the event, which were provided by RACC President Sebastià Salvadó and RallyRACC Clerk of the Course Aman Barfull. 

The Madrid event was chaired by Miguel Cardenal, Spanish State Secretary for Sports, who was joined by Carlos Gracia, President of the Spanish Motor Sport Federation and Pilar Mateo, Manager of the Industry, Distribution and Services Sector at Telefonica España. Meanwhile, the personalities who joined the RACC staff at the Barcelona event were Ramon Salabert (Executive Director at Telefonica Catalunya), Xavier Amador (Manager at Institut Barcelona Esports of the Barcelona City), Octavi Bono (Tourist Board Manager of Tarragona Council), and Ivan Tibau (General Secretary for Sports at the Catalan Government). Attending the Barcelona event were Dani Sordo, who will be closing the season with the Spanish rally at the wheel of his Mini WRC, and also Luis Moya.

The RallyRACC, to be held from 8 to 11 November, will be the closing round of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship and will include several novelties as regards itinerary, start ceremony and eligibility. The event will be the only race out of the 13 events making up the calendar to be a scoring round for all of the championships (WRC, PWRC, SWRC and WRC Academy) and also the only race to combine gravel and asphalt.

But the 2012 RallyRACC does also add a new proof of the well-known innovative character of the organiser: After two editions in which the rally consolidated its mixed formula providing for gravel and asphalt sections and thus increasing the sporting interest of the event, this season, innovation is taken one step further with the inclusion of the start ceremony in Barcelona and a special stage in the built-up area of Salou, as well as several significant new contributions to the rally route.

All of these features turn this event into a special highlight, with its excellent entry list made up of 74 teams, i.e. 148 drivers and co-drivers, coming from 30 different countries, including all works and private teams registered in the World Championship. The two overall world champions (Sébastien Loeb and Petter Solberg), will be joined by other five who have achieved championship titles in the different support series (Daniel Sordo, Sébastien Ogier, Per-Gunnar Andersson, Martin Prokop in the Junior championship and Hayden Paddon in the Production championship) as well as the reigning IRC champion Andreas Mikkelsen, and the 2007 IRC champion, Enrique García-Ojeda. The last time the Spanish round had recorded more than seventy entrants was three years ago, which proves the general interest it has aroused this year, not only by the fact of being the closing round of the seven championships or series that make up this year's WRC.

The organiser has paid special attention to spectators, trying to bring them as close as possible to the action and to the main figures of the event. The start ceremony on Avenida de la Catedral in Barcelona, the staging of a special stage having the beach as a background and running through the built-up area of Salou, the evolution of the mixed day on Friday, with some new and some modified stages, and the negotiation of a complete "doughnut" during the Riudecanyes stage, will create an event in which everything has been planned to provide show and enjoyment for spectators.

Although decades ago Barcelona had already been host to the start and the finish of the Rally Catalunya, when it counted towards the European Championship, the city will host for the first time in its history the start ceremony of a World Championship event, the greatest expression of road racing. The special stages, service park and the rally finish will continue at the Costa Daurada, as it has been since 2005, with Salou and PortAventura as nerve centres of the race. The inclusion of Barcelona into the preambles of the race provides for an atypical and very attractive day for spectators, who will witness how the complete logistics and atmosphere of the World Rally Championship is brought to the Catalan capital, including additional activities specially prepared for them.