46th Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada, Rally de Espana 2010

RSL Staff

– October 15, 2010Posted in: Featured, News, WRC

The 46 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España will be taking place 21-24 October 2010 in Salou in the Tarragona and Costa Daurada regions of Catalunya.

RallyRACC has been an all-asphalt event in the recent years but is now running on mixed surfaces, with the first day on a mixture of gravel and asphalt and the second and third day only on asphalt. A total of 53 crews have entered the rally, including the Catalan Marc Martí who will make a return to the WRC co-driving for Andorran driver Albert Llovera. RallyRACC Catalunya- COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España is the last ever round of the Junior World Rally Championship.

ORGANISER ACTIVITIES

1) Go-karting
All the top WRC drivers will be taking part in a Go-kart Shoot-out on Thursday 21 October at 15h00-16h00 at Karting Salou (Autovía de Salou a Reus Km 2.1). The drivers who have confirmed their attendance are: Sébastien Loeb, Dani Sordo, Mikko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti Latvala, Sébastien Ogier, Kimi Räikkönen, Matthew Wilson, Ken Block, Petter Solberg, Khalid Al Qassimi and Federico Villagra. The activity starts with a static photo shoot of all the drivers in their overalls before they go on the track one by one.

2) Autograph Session
The first 6 Crews (Drivers and Co-Drivers) in the current FIA WRC Drivers’ Championship and crews of cars 8 and 43 will attend the Autograph Session on Thursday 21 October from 19h00h to 19h30 at the Podium Area in Salou, before the Ceremonial Start which gets underway at 20h00.

3) Environmental Initiatives
RallyRACC has signed an agreement with the Environment and Housing Department of the Catalan Government, including the construction of fire-breaks and cleaning the sides of some of the roads that will be used as stages. Large waste containers will be located in each of the main spectator areas and 10,000 large rubbish bags will be distributed among spectators in those areas not fitted with containers, to be collected by collaborators and volunteers.

TEAMS

1) BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
Ford will hold a media function in the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team service area at 17h30 on Wednesday 20 October and another function for the Spanish media on Wednesday evening with the drivers. They are also hosting British journalists from Car Magazine who will be making a feature on pacenotes with Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen. Other Ford guests in Spain include journalists from Hungary and Ukraine.

2) Petter Solberg World Rally Team
Petter Solberg World Rally Team will be hosting a group of approximately 60 guests in Spain, including guests from Citroën Norway and from two other team sponsors.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

1) FxPro
The newly crowned Miss FxPro 2010 will be present in RallyRACC over the weekend, including the Go-Kart activity on Thursday, together with six FxPro Girls.

Their other activities will include:

WRC Game Competition: The public is invited to come and race against the FxPro Girls in order to winsome great prizes in the Black Bean trade area in Salou, near the Podium, on Saturday 23 October at 15h00-16h30.

The FxPro Competition winners, who won a VIP package to RallyRACC, will have a photo opportunity with the FxPro Girls and presentation of the award to Miss FxPro 2010 on Saturday 23 October.

2) Magneti Marelli
Magneti Marelli is hosting a group of 16 guests in Spain, including dealers and distributors. The guests will be
experiencing a full VIP hospitality programme including helicopter transfers and a co-drive.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Rally Travel Fundraiser
The 8th annual Rally Travel Charity Auction in aid of the Richard Burns Foundation & Michael Park Fund will take place on Thursday 21 October at 17h00 (doors open 16h45) in the Puerto Principe Night Club in Salou (on the main promenade, approximately 300m from the Podium area). To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Rally

Travel’s 1st WRC event, admission is open to all WRC guests, media and personnel and the team behind the event hope to raise a record amount for the Foundation in 2010. There is no charge, but at least a 5 euro donation to the charity on the door is welcome.

All the top WRC Drivers and Co-Drivers will participate in an auction of various items of rally memorabilia which range from signed driving gloves to whole World Rally Car parts such as front bumpers and wings.

If anyone requires further details, or is willing to donate any items for the auction, please contact Rally Travel at info@rallytravel.com or Tel. +44 1765 640055.

Local scheduling (all times local)

TVE – TeleDeporte Friday 22 October 23h00 – Day 1 Highlights
Saturday 23 October 22h30 – Day 2 Highlights
Sunday 24 October 22h15 – Day 3 Highlights

TV3 will broadcast SS 12 Riudecanyes LIVE on Saturday 23 October at 15h30-17h30. TV3 will also cover the rally throughout the weekend in their news and sport programmes and broadcast the 52’ Event Highlights on Sunday 24 October (time tbc).

Radio

World Rally Radio will be live on WRC.com throughout the weekend.
Direct link: http://www.wrc.com/fanzone/rally-radio
Nightly podcast: http://www.wrc.com/fanzone/podcasts and iTunes

On air times:

Friday 22 October 08h30 (local time)
Saturday 23 October 09h30
Sunday 24 October 08h15

JWRC CHAMPIONSHIP
RallyRACC marks the last ever round of the Junior World Rally Championship. With only seven points separating JWRC leader Aaron Burkart (DEU) and the rival Hans Weijs (NLD), the 2010 season finale looks set to be as thrilling as ever. Both Burkart and Weijs will appear at the FIA pre-event press conference, where journalists are welcome to take photos of the two contenders side-by-side. The Junior winner of the event and the Championship winner – who may of course be the same driver – will both then appear at the FIA post-event press conference. The presentation of the 2010 Rookie Cup and the ASN Award will also take place in Spain.

PIRELLI STAR DRIVER SHOOT- OUT
Sixteen young drivers from around the world will take part in a Pirelli Star Driver Shoot-Out during RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada – Rally de España. On Friday 22 October they will be given training by ESP and on Saturday they will drive one gravel and one asphalt stage in identical Ford Fiesta R2’s. Up to six drivers will win a fully-funded drive on selected rounds of next year’s FIA World Rally Championship.