RallyRACC-Rally de Espana / Rally review
Shakedown and start
The shakedown was more like a show-stage. It
was situated in downtown Salou along the boulevards of the famous seaside resort. “We have
to do our four rounds,” grumbled the new world
champion. “So we will do this, but this has very little to do with the actual rally.” The others agreed,
but Dani Sordo saw his chance. In front of thousands of fans he achieved to shine by ‘winning’
In Spain however there were other aims. Dani the shakedown.
Sordo wanted to perform well and grab a second win before his home crowd. Neuville wanted But earlier the Spaniard had been critical about
to defend his runner up position in the champi- the starting order in the rally. As we know Spain
onship. Latvala on the other hand was eager to is the only mixed surface event in the championstop Neuville so that he could make it a VW one/ ship. Unlike last years the gravel stages will now
two in the championship.
be tackled at the end of the rally. According to
the FIA regulations this means that starting order
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In the beginning of this year Jost Capito was still
quite prudent. He did not think he would have
any chances to win the championship, perhaps
an event on the podium in the second half of the
season. We now know better. His team won almost anything that could be won. There was one
final aim: the constructor’s title; only six points
separated VW form that goal.
for the first day will be in championship order. On
the other days (including the last (gravel-) day
the competitors will start in rally classification order. Sordo feared some competitors would slow
down deliberately in order not to start as first
on the road on the gravel stages. “The slippery
gravel will cause the advantage gathered on the
first days to vaporize in no time,” says Sordo. So
it’s of no use building a large gap in these initial days, you know you will lose your advantage
rapidly.” The RACC Rally Spain organizers saw
this problem and had already asked the FIA to
be allowed to change the starting system, but the
international governing body said they had to do
it according to the existing regulations. “That is
really a pity, but nothing can’t be done about it,”
said bot Sordo and the organizers.