64 entries for the RallyRACC, penultimate round of the 2013 World Rally Championship

(01/10/2013)

RallyRACC 2012 

After getting the approval of the FIA, RACC has published today the official entry list of the 49 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2013, which will be the penultimate scoring round of the FIA World Rally Championship.  The figure of 64 entered cars is above the average number of entrants of WRC events in 2013, thus confirming the Spanish round as a fully consolidated event in the WRC calendar.

The highlight among the 64 entrants are the 13 vehicles of the premier WRC class, including all manufacturers registered in the World Championship, headed by the current leader of the standings, Sébastien Ogier, who could be racing his first event as a Champion if he manages to take the crown in France. There will be 7 Ford Fiesta RS WRC (Østberg, Novikov, Al-Attiyah, Neuville, Prokop, Paddon and Al-Kuwari), 3 Citroën DS3 WRC (Hirvonen, Sordo and Al-Qassimi) and 3 Volkswagen Polo R WRC (Latvala, Ogier and Mikkelsen). In addition to the leader Ogier, Dani Sordo will surely want to fight with his Citroën for another victory after his success in Germany. In any case, in addition to the fight for the title, there will be also an exciting battle for the second place in the championship between Neuville, Latvala and Hirvonen.

Another well-attended class will be WRC2 with 14 vehicles, and although the current leader Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (Ford) from Qatar will not be taking part in this class, as he will be taking the start, as last year, with a more powerful car from the premier WRC class, there will be former F1 driver and Grand Prix winner Robert Kubiça (Citroën) from Poland, who is considered as the favourite to take the win of the class.  WRC3 has three participants, one of them a former Spanish and IRC champion, Enrique García-Ojeda, who will be driving a Citroën DS3 R3T.

Worth mentioning is also the entry list of the FIA Junior WRC, with nine Ford Fiesta R2 that will be racing the final event of this class, reserved for drivers under 27 years of age, where Swedish driver Pontus Tidemand, class leader, will be fighting against the two Spaniards in the class José Antonio Suárez and Yeray Lemes.

Six former World Champions of the smaller classes will be taking part in the event: Sébastien Ogier, Dani Sordo and Martin Prokop (Junior), Nasser Al-Attiyah, Hayden Paddon and Benito Guerra (PWRC); as well as two world championship runner-ups (Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala) and five winners of scoring rounds (Ogier, Hirvonen, Latvala, Mads Østberg and Sordo). For the first time, the RallyRACC will not be having at the start any former winner of the event, which is actually a positive aspect, as there will be new names on the podium and in winners' record of the event.

More international than ever: 35 different countries
The RallyRACC is growing in internationality year after year. If there were 30 countries represented in 2012, this year there will be 35. The 128 drivers and co-drivers officially entered will be coming from 35 different countries: 35 from Spain, 10 from Italy, 7 from Great Britain, 6 from Finland and Norway, 5 from Argentina, Portugal and France, and 4 from Ireland and Estonia, to mention the countries with the largest representation. As usual, the countries which attract the most interest from fans are those far away from the Peninsula, such as New Zealand, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and a complete representation from the Middle East with Qatar, the Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

As regards the makes, there will be 8 makes used by participants, either as works or private machines. As in previous years, Ford is the most represented make (35 units), followed by Mitsubishi (12) and Citroën (10).

Good Spanish representation
In this 49th edition, there will be a total of 17 Spanish crews and one Spanish co-driver assisting a foreign driver. Dani Sordo-Carlos del Barrio (Citroën DS3 WRC) will obviously be the top Spanish crew, as well as the two FIA Junior WRC entrants: José Antonio Suárez-Cándido Carrera and Yeray Lemes-Rogelio Peñate. Borja Rozada, Spanish co-driver, will be joining again Mexican driver Benito Guerra. The crew took the victory in the PWRC class in 2012.

This year, the RallyRACC will be counting again on the former Spanish and IRC champion Enrique García-Ojeda, who will be contesting the WRC3 class co-driven by Borja Odriozola at the wheel of the Citroën DS3 R3T he will be already using in France.  Among the non-scoring participants there will be several well-known names, such as Josep Maria Membrado-Oriol Julià and Carles Llinàs-Kiko Torra (both with Mitsubishi).

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