The RallyRACC lowers the curtain of the 2012 WRC

(26/10/2012)

Sébastien Ogier (Citroën). RallyRACC 2011

After the spectacular first rally ray in Barcelona (Thursday, 8), the racing action as such arrives on the three following days (Friday, 9 to Sunday, 10), with Costa Daurada, Salou and PortAventura as nerve centres. Below is a brief description of the itinerary making up this 48th edition of the Spanish Rally, comprising a total of 18 stages (6 per day), 405.40 timed kilometres and a total route of 1,475.43 km.

Day 1-- Two new stages, one of them in Salou, full mixed formula
The first of the three race days is made-up of 150.22 timed kilometres out of a total route of 547.65 kilometres. There will be four stages, two new stages run once, and two stages run twice. The opening stage will be Gandesa (7 km), new and with a gravel surface, followed by Pesells (26.59 km), the same fantastic special stage on gravel that takes participants almost to the province of Teruel and which was already raced last year but this time with 850 metres added at the end. Next comes Terra Alta (44.02 km), a mixed special stage that was already raced in the two previous years and now has become longer, with 8.37 asphalted km added before the already known route.

The day will be closed by another novelty: The urban stage of Salou (2 km, mixed), designed on Passeig de Jaume I and some adjacent areas, running in parallel to the beach. It will be a special offering the Mediterranean sea in the background making it more spectacular and offering images that will surely travel around the world. The start will be given in the area of Espigó del Moll and the timed finish will be located on Avinguda d’Andorra.

Day 2-- The most selective asphalt of the world championship
As a must for a rally that wants to keep its asphalt personality, all of the stages on the second day will be run on this type of surface. Three stages run twice, all of them already known from 2011:  twisty La Mussara (20.48 km); long and complete El Priorat (45.97 km), considered by the drivers as the best asphalt stage of the world championship, and steep Riba-roja d’Ebre (14.20 km). The latter will have 1.93 additional km at the beginning compared to last year. The day will be made-up of 161.30 timed kilometres and a total route of 562.95 kilometres.

Day 3 -- Three technical special stages to put an end to the race
The novelties of the third day, which will be run entirely on asphalt, as the previous day, is the return of two specials that were raced in 2010 for the last time: Riudecanyes (16.32 km), which is actually a longer route of the well-known Coll de la Teixeta, including a new “doughnut” manoeuvre in the first roundabout, and Serra d’Almos (4.11 km), which comes back after a one year interruption. These two special stages will be run twice, just like Santa Marina (26.51 km), which will have the same layout as in 2011 and will be the Power Stage in the second passage, providing the three fastest participants with additional points. After the 93.88 timed kilometres of the 364.83 km making up the third day, the 48 RallyRACC will finish on the podium in Salou, with the first cars being expected at 15.02h.