64 teams registered in the 55 RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada

Salou. Costa Dorada. 13 October 2019. The excitement of the engine returns to the Costa Dorada. The 55 edition of the RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada, which will be held between October 24 and 27, has 64 registered teams from 24 different countries. 11 of the participating vehicles will compete in the World Cup (WRC) while 28 are of the R5 class (WRC2 Pro and WRC2 categories).

By countries, Spain stands out with 31 participants followed by France (13), Finland, Great Britain and Italy (12), Portugal (9) and Belgium (5). There is also a notable representation of various South American countries such as Argentina (3), Mexico, Paraguay and Brazil (2), Bolivia and Chile (1). In addition, Russia, Ukraine and Japan, among other countries, are represented. By brands, the most numerous is Peugeot (17 units), followed by Ford (15), Škoda (12), Citroën (6), Hyundai (5), Toyota and Volkswagen (4) and Renault (1).

For the lovers of this sport this edition of the RallyRACC will bring great emotion because the championship is not yet decided (neither the drivers nor the constructors) and it is the penultimate test of the World Cup, since then there is only the Rally of Australia. Thus, an intense fight between the current World Champion and 3-time RallyRACC winner, Sébastien Ogier (Citroën Total WRT), against the 9-time winner in Salou (the last one a year ago) and 9 times World Champion is expected, Sébastien Loeb (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT). But we must not lose sight of the current world leader, Ott Tänak (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT), which so far has won 6 scoring rallies and is undoubtedly the driver of the moment.

On the Spanish side, the Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio team will participate for 17 consecutive times in the RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada, in 7 of which Sordo has been on the podium, but never as a winner. This time he is again among the favorites and more after winning in Sardinia, where he got his second win in a World Cup race.

On the other hand, it is important to note that the only World Champion already proclaimed, that of WRC2 Pro, Kalle Rovanperä (Škoda Fabia R5), has decided to go to the Catalan test, as will the three pilots who follow him and who must play the two podium seats without an owner: Gus Greensmith (Ford Fiesta R5), Mads Østberg (Citroën C3 R5) and Jan Kopecky (Skoda Fabia R5).

In WRC2 there will also be all the favorites that occupy the first provisional positions of the category, with the exception of the Japanese Takamoto Katsuta, who participates in WRC with an official Toyota Yaris. The fight for one of the podium places is expected to be intense between the Škoda Fabia R5 of Pierre-Louis Loubet, Benito Guerra, Nicolay Gryazin, Fabio Andolfi and Marco Bulacia; the Volkswagen Polo R5 by Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Ole Christian Veiby; the Ford Fiesta R5 by Adrien Fourmaux and Alberto Heller; the Hyundai i20 NG R5 of Rhys Yates and Simone Tempestini; and the Citroën C3 R5 by Éric Camilli and Guillaume de Mévius.
 
In any case, in WRC2 there can be a great surprise for the high performance expected of three high-quality national teams: José Antonio Suárez-Alberto Iglesias (Škoda Fabia R5), Nil Solans-Marc Martí (Volkswagen Polo R5) and the Recently proclaimed Junior World champions, Jan Solans-Mauro Barreiro (Ford Fiesta R5 Mk II).
 
The numerous participants in the Iberian Peugeot Rally Cup (Sports & You) and in the Junior R2 Scholarship (RFEdA) complete the list, the respective leaders are Daniel Berdomás-David Rivero and José Bassas-Axel Coronado.

Summary program of the 55 RallyRACC
October 22 and 23 - Recognition of the tranches
October 24 - Shakedown (9.00 a.m.) and departure ceremony (7 p.m.)
October 25 - 1st day of rally, land (between 8.00 a.m. and 07.35 p.m.)
October 26 - 2nd day of rally, asphalt (between 7.30h and 18.45h)
October 27 - 3rd day of rally, asphalt (between 6.45h and 13.26h)

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