Ott Tänak/Raigo Mölder (Ford), first leaders of the 52 RallyRACC after the Barcelona street stage
13/10/2016
The 52 RallyRACC kicked off under tricky weather, and with Ott Tänak/Raigo Mölder (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) inaugurating the overall standings after the street stage held in Barcelona this evening. Lorenzo Bertelli/Simone Scattolin (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) made the best of the running order and claimed second best, and Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo WRC) completed the top three.
Cloudy skies and intermittent showers which turned into heavy rain in some moments marked the day. After the early morning shakedown, the 65 cars authorized to take part in the 52 RallyRACC paraded in Salou's waterfront for the official start (at 1.15pm), and then drove to Barcelona. The inaugural street stage was raced around the Montjuïc area, with the start and finish line located Catalan capital Reina María Cristina avenue.
The show, which created a unique atmosphere, included an autograph signing session for the main drivers and co-drivers, as well as the historic vehicles motorcade. As in previous years, a capacity crowd was attracted to this event. About a hundred TV channels from around the world presented this top-class spectacle thanks to the appointed host broadcaster, the Catalan TV3/Esport3 channel. The 11th round of the 2016 World Rally Car championship started on challenging wet and slippery tarmac, which turned out to be really decisive for the participants, as they took the start on 4 minutes intervals. The cars, all compulsorily fitted for Friday's gravel stage, had to take on the slippery surface on suboptimal tyres.
Ott Tänak/Raigo Mölder (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) claimed the fastest time on 3'47''6 and became the first overall leaders in this championship round. Lorenzo Bertelli/Simone Scattolin (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) finished second, 2''7 behind, while Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo WRC) managed a commendable third (+35) under worse conditions (as standing water and aquaplaning zones built up as time passed). Jari-Matti Latvala/Mikka Anttila (Volkswagen Polo WRC) lost 12 seconds, and local drivers Dani Sordo/Marc Martí (Hyundai i20 WRC) finished 11th, 7 seconds slower than the leader.
Early morning Shakedown
The program started today at 8 am near Emprius, close to Salou's city centre and to PortAventura World service area. The 2.97 km shakedown was raced on a slippery mixed surface, still muddy after yesterday's rain. It actually rained quite substantially this morning too. Sébastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia were the fastest men on 2'13''9, with Dani Sordo-Marc Martí closing a mere tenth of a second behind. Andreas Mikkelsen-Anders Jaeger (Volkswagen Polo WRC) secured third place on 2'15''1.
Tomorrow's activity includes two loops with three gravel stages. The Spanish rally is the only event in the season featuring one gravel day and two tarmac stages. Caseres (12.50 km) and Bot (6.50 km) are fully gravel sections, and the longest stage in the weekend is Terra Alta, with 38.95 km combining gravel and sealed surface. Altogether, they make up the 115.90 km that teams will have to deal with tomorrow. Besides, no service is scheduled until the evening. Only a tyre service is allowed at the end of the first loop - in Ascó, at 1.16 pm-, before re-running the special stages.
Provisional standings after day 1, 52 RallyRACC
1 - Ott Tänak/Raigo Mölder (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), 3'47''6
2 - Lorenzo Bertelli/Simone Scattolin (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), +2''7
3 - Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC), +3''5
4 - Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler (Skoda Fabia R5), +5''0
5 - Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Citroën DS3 WRC), +5''2
6 - Craig Breen/Scott Martin (Citroën DS3 WRC) +5''2
7 - Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC), +5''7
8 - Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger (Volkswagen Polo R WRC), +5''8
9 - Mads Østberg/Ola Fløene (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), +6''1
10 - Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 WRC), +6''4
11 - Daniel Sordo/Marc Martí (Hyundai i20 WRC), +7''0
