RallyRACC-Rally de Espana / Rally review
22/64
Barcelona
On Friday the teams had to take a 110 kilometre
ride to the city so successfully praised by Freddie
Mercury and operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé
in their hit song Barcelona. As last year the start
ceremony was in the Avenida de la Catedral, the
road leading to the huge cathedral providing an
impressive background for the official start. Thousands of very enthusiastic mainly Spanish fans
cheered their heroes before they left for the first
three stages. As the official start was at the end of
the afternoon, the competitive kilometres had to
be done in the dark, adding some extra flavour to
these stages.
Night stages
Nights in the southern Mediterranean tend to fall
quickly, so most of the 62 kilometres of stages
were driven in total darkness. “That is not easy,”
commented Ogier. “At the first stage we we’re not
used to driving in the dark yet. But apparently all
drivers suffered from this phenomenon as Ogier
arrived back in Salou winning all three stages.
Neuville, in fourth after Sordo and runner up Latvala, already lost almost twenty seconds.
side by side with Sordo on the top of the leaderboard. Ogier finished this stage losing just under
one minute. I’m playing my first strategic card,” he
laughed. “I don’t want to start first tomorrow!” The
hole in his front tyre told another story. “Oh that
must have been a rock in the grass when we cut a
The all tarmac second day showed an early battle corner. It wasn’t in our notes,” he explained.
between Sordo and Latvala. They tackled the rerun of the 16 kilometres Riudecanyes stage equal- Latvala vs Sordo vs Neuville
ly fast and some 9 seconds faster than Ogier’s The rest of the day it was a constant battle bewinning time of the night before. Ogier was, as he tween Latvala, Sordo and Neuville. The Belgian
said, “not fully awake yet” and ended up in third on picked up a win in the PowerStage on the way but
the stage. Next stop was El Priorat stage. Includ- the day ended in this order. The distance between
ing El Molar one of the nicest hairpins/ junctions in the first three was very limited and even Ogier in
the whole championship. Thousands of Spaniards fourth only had a 45 second gap between him and
were applauding, cheering and waving their flags. a win. Would it be possible for him to close this
Mostly this was for one man: their compatriot Dani gap on the gravel stages of the last day? It was
Sordo. These fans made him fly as he picked up clear anyway that leader Latvala was in the worst
his second scratch in a row here. But on stage 6 position. He would have to clean the roads for the
Latvala retaliated and won the stage bringing him competition.