56 RallyRACC, Ogier and Toyota, the fastest drivers in the Shakedown
14/10/2021
• The full-tarmac round will start on Friday 15th
PortAventura World, Salou, 14th October 2021.- The 56 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2021, kicked off today in Salou. The eleventh and penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship will be raced in the Tarragona and Lleida roads until Sunday, with the Rally HQ and Service Park located in PortAventura's leisure park.
Priority 1 drivers lined up for the Coll de la Teixeta Shakedown test today, starting at 9:01 am. They were the first group to cover the 4.31 kilometres of a test aimed at fine-tuning the set-up for tomorrow's special stages. All non-priority cars followed suit. This section will also be included in the Riudecanyes Special Stage scheduled for Sunday. The second pass of that stage will award the Power Stage points to the top five cars.
This morning, most drivers chose to do four passes. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota Yaris WRC) clocked the fastest time on 2min 33.6sec, followed by Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota Yaris WRC) with a 2min 33.8sec run. Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) finished third (2min 34.0sec), and Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, 2min 34.2sec) and Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, 2min 34.4sec) completed the top 5.
Besides Sordo/Carrera, the other Spanish team in the RC1 category is Nil Solans and co-driver Marc Martí. They made their debut on a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC and finished 10th fastest on 2min 36.1sec after having completed 6 runs.
The quickest WRC2 team was Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (2min 41.8sec) on a Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, after having switched from the Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 they originally registered with. Spanish 2020 champions Pepe López/Borja Rozada (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) managed the fastest time in the WRC3 category, on 2min 42.8sec.
The opening leg is scheduled for Friday 15th October, with 6 special stages totalling 112.02 km of timed distance. The three stages are Vila Plana (20 km), La Granadella (21.80 km) and Riba-roja (14.21 km), and they will be run twice. As the 2021 edition does not include any gravel stages, the whole event will be raced on asphalt. The program will start at 07:55 hours in the PortAventura World Service Park, and will conclude there at around 20:44 hours. A 45 minute service and the Salou ceremonial podium start are scheduled as part of the day's activities.
56 RallyRACC – Shakedown times
1. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/Toyota Yaris WRC), 2:33.6
2. Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (GB/Toyota Yaris WRC), 2:33.8
3. Thierry Neuville/Martin Wydaeghe (B/Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC), 2:34.0
4. Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (E/Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC), 2:34.2
5. Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (EST/Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC), 2:34.4
6. Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (FIN/Toyota Yaris WRC), 2:34.8
7. Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (F/Ford Fiesta WRC), 2:34.9
8. Gus Greensmith/Chris Patterson (GB/Ford Fiesta WRC), 2:35.0
9. Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (JAP/IRL/Toyota Yaris WRC), 2:35.1
10. Nil Solans/Marc Martí (E/Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC), 2:36.1
