The countdown to the celebration of the 53rd edition of the Rally RACC Catalunya has begun and to make shorter the wait, the organization of the test has made public the entry list for the rally. A total of 72 crews will meet in the sections of soil and asphalt around Salou, only appointment of the WRC that is maintained with a scheme mixed in your journey. The fans who approach to the test will be able to enjoy thirteen World Rally Car of new generation, as well as sixteen cars from the class WRC2, five of the JWRC and an important ‘layer’ of national drivers.
The battle for the title of the WRC has two applicants, M-Sport and Hyundai Motorsport, both at the level of the pilots and builders. A battle to double-or-nothing situation where both structures have opted for different strategies. In M-Sport’s continuity is the norm, Sébastien Ogier will try to defend his income 17 points, accompanied by Ott Tanak, also direct rival, and by Elfyn Evans. However, in Hyundai yes there is a change of pilots and Thierry Neuville will be the newly signed Andreas Mikkelsen as a companion to. Dani Sordo will be the third pilot of the team, as Hayden Paddon will see the rally from the ‘gutter’.
Citroën lives his first rally after the departure of Andreas Mikkelsen, although the brand has other goals in mind. Kris Meeke, Stéphane Lefebvre and Khalid-Al Qassimi will be the three riders of the mark in Salou, being Craig Breen at this time, the pilot sacrificed by Yves Matton. Finally, the three Toyota Yaris WRC begin to talk again in Finnish, since their drivers are Jari-Matti Latvala, Juho Hänninen and Esapekka Lappi. The last World Rally Car of new generation is that of Mads Ostberg, which is set to compete next to the co-driver Torstein Eriksen. The two World Rally Car WRC Trophy are those of Valeriy Gorban and Jean-Michel Raoux.
Resolved the category WRC2 in favor of Pontus Tidemand, you could think that the Rally RACC would have little incentive in this class, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Jan Kopecký represents the official team of Skoda in a category that brings together sixteen enrolled. Teemu Suninen is the pilot of M-Sport, while other usual names from the category such as Simone Tempestini, Gus Greensmith, Yohann Rossel or Lukas Puieniazek are not missing. Hiroki Arai and Takamoto Katsuta, japanese pilots protected Toyota, repeat with the Fiesta R5 of Tommi Mäkinen Racing.
Although Fabio Andolfi will be with the Hyundai i20 R5, a large part of the interest of the category goes by the Spanish presence in two cars. Dani Cué repeats as co-pilot of Benito War in the Skoda Fabia R5 of the mexican. For his part, Cristian García made his debut with the Ford Fiesta R5 to check your level against the roosters in the category and contact with the category you should compete in 2018. In JWRC, Nil Solans will seek to get the title of the Junior WRC and the recent awards of DMACK in front of his usual roster of rivals.
Leaving aside Jourdan Serderidis and his Citroën DS3 WRC or the fact of seeing Eric Camilli registered with the Fiesta R5 outside of the category WRC2, as does Ole Christian Veiby or Max Vatanen among others, the roster of enrolled close a large group of Spanish riders. Jan Solans, brother of Nil, Jose Luis Pelaez with a Fiesta R5, Felix Macias and Gustavo Sosa are some of the riders that are at home. One of the faces illustrious of the test will be of the former cyclist Óscar Freire with your Kia Pro-cee’d GT, while the Peugeot 208 of the Volant RACC put the finishing touches on the list of participants.
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