2007 Rallye Catalunya - Preview

For this year, the date of Rally Catalunya - Costa Daurada has been moved to the latter half of the season, as was seen from 2003 to 2005. Last year it was round four of the calendar, meaning that the Spanish fans haven't experienced a WRC event for 18 months, so expect the roads in the hills of Tarragona to be lined with enthusiastic action-starved supporters.

Apart from running the weekend before Corsica this year, the event has changed little compared to the previous two years, although some of the special stages have been tweaked to offer a new challenge to the competitors. Most of the special stages are based in the mountains of the Tarragona region, about 120km south west of Barcelona.

The smooth, wide roads of Rally Catalunya make it the fastest sealed surface rally of the year. The majority of the Spanish asphalt is new and smooth and this event is the closest the WRC gets to a circuit race. Cutting corners is commonplace as drivers look for every advantage, and dirt dragged onto the road often leads to slippery and unpredictable conditions for those running further down the order.

Absolute confidence in the car and pace notes is critical to commit to the flowing high-speed stages, and grip levels can really be exploited to carry speed throughout the corner. For this rally ride-height is reduced allowing the cars to sit closer to the ground to reduce their centre of gravity, and the suspension is set much stiffer to reduce body roll and maximise cornering speeds.

1. BP-Ford

2. Citroen Total

3. Subaru

4. OMV Kronos Citroen

5. Stobart M-Sport Ford

6. Munchis Ford

1. BP-Ford

After a five-week break from competition, BP-Ford World Rally Team takes its FIA World Rally Championship lead to Spain for the first of two asphalt events on consecutive weekends that will go a long way towards deciding the outcome of the 2007 titles. The squad takes a 46-point advantage in the manufacturers' series and a 10-point lead in the drivers' standings to Rally de España (4 - 7 October) as the 16-round series approaches its decisive phase.

Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen: "I like the fast roads, they are like a race circuit in places. The most difficult aspect for me is the dirt that is pulled onto the roads during the first pass. It's slippery during the second run and, if they are not cleaned, also on those stages that are run in both directions because the dirt is then on parts of the road that you do not expect. That's where the work of the safety crews is important in driving the stages and alerting us to the awkward parts,"

Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "The roads are fast and flowing and the surface is generally smooth. But there are also some quite sections and a lot of gravel and dirt becomes dragged onto the surface through drivers cutting corners. It's vital to be absolutely perfect in finding the right braking points and the correct line through the bends. On gravel it's easier to regain control by sliding the car if a mistake is made but on asphalt an error can prove more costly."

2. Citroen Total

After a brief but thrilling escapade on gravel in New Zealand, the 2007 World Rally Championship returns to asphalt for the twelfth round of the season in Spain where Citroën Sport has entered C4 WRCs for Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and Dani Sordo/Marc Martí.

Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "It's always nice to be back in Spain. It's a great rally with excellent stages that call for a circuit driving style which is something you don't find on other asphalt events. There is lots of hard cornering and you need to concentrate to make sure you keep to the ideal line. On the other hand, I'm less of a fan of the deep ruts that we find on the inside of certain corners second time round. You can't avoid them if you want to stay on the best line, but it's not something I like. The ruts can be quite deep and you can take a big jolt as you re-join the road. That can also damage the car, a rim or the tyres. Our objective will be to try to win and hope that our rivals succeed in splitting us and Marcus."

Dani Sordo/Marc Marti: "I will endeavour to finish ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and, above all, Marcus Grönholm. The best way Marc Martí and I can help Sébastien and Daniel is by depriving their rivals of points.

We know it won't be easy but I hope I will be able to profit from my good feeling on asphalt, the potential of the C4 WRC and the work everyone at Citroën Sport has put in to make the car so competitive."

3. Subaru

After a month-long break following the trip down under for Rally New Zealand, the Subaru World Rally Team is heading to Europe for the first installment of an asphalt double header.

Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "The asphalt test last week in Spain was generally positive for us and gave us the chance to continue development of our asphalt performance. We have made some more progress with the handling of the car, and are eliminating problem areas. I hope that we can take another step forward in Spain. As a team we know the pace is there on asphalt, so I am hoping for a good result next weekend."

Chris Atkinson/Glen MacNeall: "I'm looking forward to getting back to asphalt again. The test went well, and we have had the chance to do a lot of fine-tuning. We were quick in Germany, and after the test I feel more comfortable still with the car. We're going well on asphalt, and I hope we will continue this pace in Spain. Being a very smooth surface, you can lean on the car more through the corners, so high-speed confidence and stability is important. I'm looking forward to it and think we can continue improving the speed of the car with more stage wins."

Xavier Pons/Xavier Amigo: "It's a very exciting time for both myself and Xavier as it is our first Rally Spain with the Subaru World Rally Team, and I am hoping for a great showing in front of the fans. I am sure their enthusiasm and excitement will help us with a strong result. I know the fans are looking forward to the rally, and to thank them for their support I want to do well at home."

4. OMV Kronos Citroen

The OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team will be fully manned once again at the "Rallye RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada", the eleventh run to the FIA World Rally Championship. Just like in Germany, Francois Duval (Bel) and Patrick Pivato (Fra) will steer a Citroen Xsara WRC beside Austrians Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor.

Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor: "One surely can't compare this rally to the WRC-run in Germany. The grip should be much stronger here. And that definitely suits us."

Francois Duval/Patrick Pivato: "I am very happy that I was offered this opportunity. It proves that success is being rewarded. I hope that I will be able to return the favour by reaching further top results."

5. Stobart M-Sport Ford

After a four week break, the FIA World Rally Championship will get back into full-swing as the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team head to Spain for Rally RACC Catalunya Costa Daurada. This twelfth round of the championship is the third all-asphalt rally of the year.

Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "I have been learning a lot this year about tarmac driving and I took a lot out of Germany last month. We have been doing some more driving with the go-kart and it is helping me understand the lines and style I need to drive on tarmac. The roads are quite wide here which I think could help with my confidence but because I have never done the rally before I really don't know what to expect. We started to put in much better times on the last day of Rally Germany which helped my confidence a lot. It would be great to finish in the points here but my main goal is to finish every stage and get the maximum experience on the tarmac roads."

Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "This week I did some training with a Finnish track expert who has won Finnish championships many times. From this he identified that my driving style on tarmac is far too aggressive so he showed me ways to make it smoother and I am hoping to put this into practice at Catalunya. It is something I am starting to understand but it will take time, so finishing the next two rallies and getting maximum experience is very important. Roads in Catalunya are wide but because there are lots of cuts there is always a lot of gravel on the road which can make things tricky. My goal for the event is a points finish and personally I want to try and make my style a lot smoother."

Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr: "Germany was quite a good event for us and I have been looking forward to this rally. For this event we will be making new notes but because the route is very similar to last year I'm quite confident that we will make good, fresh ones. I really enjoy the fast wide roads here but there can be some tricky sections where gravel has been dragged onto them. If conditions stay the same as last year it will be really good. It was dry for the entire 2006 event and that made things much more enjoyable for us. You can't really afford to do anything silly with Corsica on the following week so for us the most important thing is to look after the car and get to the end of the event so we can be fully prepared to challenge in Corsica."

6. Munchis Ford

This week the Munchi's Ford World Rally Team have their first attempt at an all-asphalt event as the FIA World Rally Championship's twelfth round gets underway in Spain for Rally RACC Catalunya Costa Daurada.

Luis Perez Companc / Jose Maria Volta: My aim here is to finish the rally and the best way to do that is to keep the car on the road, I need to gain as much experience as possible. It is going to be complicated to write good pacenotes because I don't know the exact limit of the car's grip on asphalt and also it is not going to be easy to know which are the corners you can cut and the ones you can't. I also know that I need to be careful on the first pass to realise the corners that will have gravel dragged onto the road from the other drivers cutting corners."

Federico Villagra / Jorge Perez Companc: "I am hoping to complete all of the stages and try and finish the rally without any problems as this will give me the maximum experience for the next asphalt rally. But I also know it won't be easy. I am not sure of the exact lines and the exact speeds that we can push for on this rally. The cuts on the corners will also be difficult and we need to be wary of the gravel. I will plan to start off at a safe pace and try to get faster as the rally goes on."

7. Skoda Czech Rally Team

Czech Rally Team Kopecký has undergone a test of the Skoda Fabia WRC car on Monday on location of another race, which is part of the World Rallye Championship circuit, this being the Catalunya Rallye. The Skoda Fabia WRC car was running around approximately eighty kilometers from Barcelona near the city of Vic.

Jan Kopecky/Filip Schovanek: "During the test we had the weather on our side and so we took appropriate advantage of the excellent conditions. One hundred and ten kilometers of testing were sufficient to verify certain changes, which were performed as part of valid homologation especially to the chassis. Especially changes to the rear differential appear to be very good. We adapted the driving properties of Skoda Fabia WRC race to the local tarmac surface, which has lower traction than at other tarmac races."

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Event Statistics

* This will be the 43rd running of the event that was first organised in 1916, although it will only be the 17th time it has counted towards the World Rally Championship.

* After being based in Lloret de Mar, north of Barcelona, for many years, the event has been run out of the Costa Daurada resort Salou, around 100km to the south, for the past two years. For the third year running, the Port Aventura theme park will host the event's main facilities.

The service park is situated

103km from Barcelona Airport.

* The total length of the 2007 event is 1,359.96km, including 352.87km divided into 18 stages (10 different ).

* Spain is in the same time zone as continental Europe (CET). The local currency is the Euro.

* The engines of the two Citroën C4 WRCs are new. For the first time, the engine and the chassis will be sealed together for Spain, Corsica and Ireland. All three events will consequently be contested by same cars. On the other hand, the front and rear subframes and steering racks for Spain are twinned with the Rallye Deutschland.

* Two transmission and differential assemblies were sealed in Germany for each car. They are available for the Rally Catalunya.

* Tyres: the quota per driver is 70 tyres, of which 47 may be used (event and shakedown). The list of nominated tyres and patterns (two) had to be registered with the FIA on Monday October 1.

* Recce is scheduled for Tu esday October 2 (between 08.00 and 19.00 - stages 1/3, 2/4, 5, 7/11,

10/14 and 16/18). The second day of recce is Wednesday October 3 (between 08.00 and 19.00 - stages 6, 8/12, 9/13 and 15/17). Two runs are authorised in keeping with a schedule specified by the organisers.

* Shakedown (Thursday October 4, between 08.00 and 12.00) uses the same 3.98km stage as that used in 2006. It is situated 60km southwest of Port Aventura, between Tivissa and La Serra d'Almos.

A special service park will be organised in Mora la Nova.

* The seafront start ceremony starts at 19.30 on Thursday October 4.

* One route observation crew is authorised per driver to cover each stage before the competitors.

* Leg 1 (Friday October 5): 587km, including 148.05km divided into 6 stages

(4 different). Rally starts

from the service park at 07.00. SS1 (Querol 1, 25.43km) and SS2 (El Montmell 1, 24.14km). Regroup (10.45, 10 minutes). Service A (10.55, 30 minutes). SS3 (Querol 2) and SS4 (El Montmell 2). Regroup (15.10, 10 minutes). Service B (15.20, 30 minutes ). SS5 (El Lloar-La Figuera, 22.43 km) and SS6 (Pratdip, 26.48km). Service C (19.20, 45 minutes ). Last car due into parc ferme at 23.00.

* Leg 2 (Saturday October 6): 405.42km, including 119.16km divided into 8 stages (4 different). Cars leave parc ferme for Service D (08.00, 10 minutes). SS7 (Vilaplana 1, 13.29km), SS8 (Coll del Grau 1, 26.33km), SS9 (Margalef-La Palma d'Ebre 1, 15.85km) and SS10 (La Serra d'Almos 1, 4.11km).

Regroup (12.09, 10 minutes). Service E (12.19, 30 minutes). SS11 (Vilaplana 2), SS12 (Coll del Grau 2), SS13 (Margalef-La Palma d'Ebre 2) and SS14 (La Serra d'Almos 2). Service F (17h03, 45 minutes). Last car due into parc ferme at 20.00.

* Leg 3 (Sunday October 7): 367.54km, including 85.66km divided into 4 stages (2 different). Cars leave parc ferme for Service G (07.30, 10 minutes). SS15 (Riudecanyes 1,

16.32km) and SS16

(Colldejou 1, 26.51km). Regroup (10.51, 3 minutes ). Service H (10.54, 30 minutes). SS17 (Riudecanyes 2) and SS18 (Colldejou 2). Finish ceremony starts at 14.50.

* Note: Stages 1/3, 2/4, 5, 6, 9/13 and 16/18 (SS6 in the other direction) are identical to 2006. SS7/11 and SS15/17 are slightly modified compared with last year. Two stages are

new: Coll del Grau

(SS8/12) and La Serra d'Almos (SS10/14), which is the shakedown in the other direction. The 2006 event was run in spring (March 23-26) whereas this year's has switched to an autumn date.

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Event Schedule

Thursday 4 October: Ceremonial start

Start Passeig Jaume1, Salou 19.45

Friday 5 October: Leg 1 Salou - Salou

Start PortAventura 07.00

SS1 Querol 1 25.43km 08.21

SS2 El Montmell 1 24.14km 09.09

Serv A PortAventura (30 mins) 10.55

SS3 Querol 2 25.43km 12.46

SS4 El Montmell 2 24.14km 13.34

Serv B PortAventura (30 mins) 15.20

SS5 El Lloar - La Figuera 22.43km 16.48

SS6 Pratdip 26.48km 18.00

Serv C PortAventura (45 mins) 19.20

Finish PortAventura 20.05

Total 148.05km

Saturday 6 October: Leg 2 Salou - Salou

Serv D PortAventura (10 mins) 08.00

SS7 Vilaplana 1 13.29km 08.43

SS8 Coll del Grau 1 26.33km 09.37

SS9 Margalef - La Palma d'Ebre 1 15.85km 10.16

SS10 La Serra d'Almos 1 4.11km 11.21

Serv E PortAventura (30 mins) 12.19

SS11 Vilaplana 2 13.29km 13.22

SS12 Coll del Grau 2 26.33km 14.16

SS13 Margalef - La Palma d'Ebre 2 15.85km 14.55

SS14 La Serra d'Almos 2 4.11km 16.00

Serv F PortAventura (45 mins) 17.03

Finish PortAventura 17.48

Total 119.16km

Sunday 7 October: Leg 3 Salou - Salou

Serv G PortAventura (10 mins) 07.30

SS15 Riudecanyes 1 16.32km 08.15

SS16 Colldejou 1 26.51km 09.16

Serv H PortAventura (30 mins) 10.54

SS17 Riudecanyes 2 16.32km 11.59

SS18 Colldejou 2 26.51km 13.00

Finish Salou 14.50

Total 85.66km

Rally total 352.87km