2019 Rally Catalunya


The 2019 Rally Catalunya was a motor racing event for rally cars which was held over four days between 24 and 27 October 2019. It marks the fifty-fifth running of Rally Catalunya and is the thirteenth round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, the newly-created WRC-2 Pro class, World Rally Championship-2, the Spanish national Rally Championship and Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica championship. The 2019 event is based in Salou in Tarragona, and is contested over seventeen special stages with a total a competitive distance of.
Nine-time world champions Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena were the defending rally winners. Citroën Total WRT, the team they drove for in 2018, were the defending manufacturers' winners. The Finnish crew of Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen were the defending rally winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not defend their titles as they were promoted to the newly-created WRC-2 Pro class.
Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul won the rally for the first time in their career. Their team, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, were the manufacturers' winners. The Citroën Total crew of Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen won the WRC-2 Pro category, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category, while the French crew of Eric Camilli and Benjamin Veillas won the wider WRC-2 class.
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja finished second overall as well as taking the power stage victory, which is enough for them to seal their maiden World Rally Championship titles. This makes Tänak the first non-French driver to be World Rally Champion since Petter Solberg won the 2003 World Rally Championship title, ending a run of 5,831 days in which a Sébastien was the current champion. With a 2-3 finish in the Pro category, Škoda Motorsport took the first World Rally Championship-2 Pro manufacturers’ title.

Background

Championship standings prior to the event

and Martin Järveoja led the both drivers' and co-drivers' championships with a twenty-eight-point ahead of defending world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul were third, a further thirteen points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held an eight-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.
In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings, newly-crowned champions Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen led by sixty-six points in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson are second, with Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen further five points behind in third. In the manufacturers' championship, Škoda Motorsport led M-Sport Ford WRT by fifty-three points, with Citroën Total over a hundred points behind in third.
In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by six and eight points respectively. Benito Guerra and Maciej Szczepaniak were second, while Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Yaroslav Fedorov were third.

Entry list

The following crews entered into the rally. The event opened to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro, Spanish national Rally Championship, Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica championship and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of sixty-four entries were received, with eleven crews entered with World Rally Cars and twenty-four entered the World Rally Championship-2. Four crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class.

Route

The La Mussara stage is scheduled to return to the itinerary for the first time since 2014 and due to run as the Power stage on Sunday.

Itinerary

All dates and times are CEST from 24 to 26 October 2019 and CET on 27 October 2019.

Report

World Rally Cars

It was a devastating blow for the reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier's title hope. After setting the fastest stage time at the opening stage, the Frenchman's C3 was crawling through the rest of the morning loop due to power steering failure and loss of hydraulics, which lost the six-time world champion nearly three minutes. Citroën's rally went from bad to worse as Esapekka Lappi retired from the rally with engine issues in the afternoon loop. Hyundai ended the first leg in 1-2-3 after all three drivers set impressive times, until Kris Meeke broke the monopoly after the first stage of the second leg. However, his position was short-lived as the Briton understeer into the barrier and retired from the day. Despite Meeke's retirement, the Korean squad's 1-2-3 was still under threat from the title-chasing Ott Tänak, who won four stages on Saturday. The championship leader was flying through the power stage and snatched second from local hero Dani Sordo to seal his maiden WRC title. Thierry Neuville eventually won the rally for the first time in Spain.

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

dominated Friday with an over-40-second lead going into Saturday. However, the Norwegian's lead was under a big threat from the freshly-crowned WRC-2 Pro champion Kalle Rovanperä, until the youngster hit a post in the Salou stage and damaged the rear axle on his Fabia R5. That left Østberg comfortable to win the category.

Classification

Special stages

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.
DateNo.Stage nameDistanceWinnersCarTimeClass leaders
24 October—Salou 2.00 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R51:35.7
25 OctoberSS1Gandesa 17.00 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R54:28.2Østberg / Eriksen
25 OctoberSS2Horta-Bot 119.00 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R510:38.5Østberg / Eriksen
25 OctoberSS3La Fatarella — Vilalba 138.85 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R527:28.9Østberg / Eriksen
25 OctoberSS4Gandesa 27.00 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R54:23.5Østberg / Eriksen
25 OctoberSS5Horta-Bot 219.00 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R510:25.2Østberg / Eriksen
25 OctoberSS6La Fatarella — Vilalba 238.85 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R527:08.2Østberg / Eriksen
26 OctoberSS7Savallà 114.08 kmKopecký / HloušekŠkoda Fabia R5 Evo7:51.5Østberg / Eriksen
26 OctoberSS8Querol 121.26 kmRovanperä / HalttunenŠkoda Fabia R5 Evo11:23.7Østberg / Eriksen
26 OctoberSS9El Montmell 124.40 kmKopecký / HloušekŠkoda Fabia R5 Evo12:53.7Østberg / Eriksen
26 OctoberSS10Savallà 214.08 kmRovanperä / HalttunenŠkoda Fabia R5 Evo7:46.2Østberg / Eriksen
26 OctoberSS11Querol 221.26 kmRovanperä / HalttunenŠkoda Fabia R5 Evo11:22.5Østberg / Eriksen
26 OctoberSS12El Montmell 224.40 kmKopecký / HloušekŠkoda Fabia R5 Evo12:51.2Østberg / Eriksen
26 OctoberSS13Salou2.24 kmKopecký / HloušekŠkoda Fabia R5 Evo2:38.8Østberg / Eriksen
27 OctoberSS14Riudecanyes 116.35 kmKopecký / HloušekŠkoda Fabia R5 Evo10:38.2Østberg / Eriksen
27 OctoberSS15La Mussara 120.72 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R511:32.6Østberg / Eriksen
27 OctoberSS16Riudecanyes 216.35 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R510:36.1Østberg / Eriksen
27 OctoberSS17La Mussara 220.72 kmØstberg / EriksenCitroën C3 R511:25.2Østberg / Eriksen

Championship standings

took an early lead, but a double puncture dropped the local hero over eight minutes. Championship leader Pierre-Louis Loubet edged Eric Camilli by only 1.5 seconds after Friday, but Camilli surpassed Loubet and built a comfortable lead before the day ended. Championship contender Benito Guerra retired from the rally due to mechanical issues.
On Sunday, Loubet went off the road and beached his Fabia, which dropped him to fifth. Althrough the Frenchman still remained on top, but his lead was down to just three points. Camilli won the class in the end to give C3 R5 an 1-2 finish in the combined R5 class with Østberg.

Classification

Special stages

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.
DateNo.Stage nameDistanceWinnersCarTimeClass leaders
24 October—Salou 2.00 kmCamilli / VeillasCitroën C3 R51:35.5
25 OctoberSS1Gandesa 17.00 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R54:28.4N. Solans / Martí
25 OctoberSS2Horta-Bot 119.00 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R510:42.8N. Solans / Martí
25 OctoberSS3La Fatarella — Vilalba 138.85 kmVeiby / AnderssonVolkswagen Polo GTI R527:26.3Loubet / Landais
25 OctoberSS4Gandesa 27.00 kmLoubet / LandaisŠkoda Fabia R54:22.4Loubet / Landais
25 OctoberSS5Horta-Bot 219.00 kmCamilli / VeillasCitroën C3 R510:27.0Loubet / Landais
25 OctoberSS6La Fatarella — Vilalba 238.85 kmCamilli / VeillasCitroën C3 R526:58.0Loubet / Landais
26 OctoberSS7Savallà 114.08 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R57:53.4Camilli / Veillas
26 OctoberSS8Querol 121.26 kmVeiby / AnderssonVolkswagen Polo GTI R511:28.6Camilli / Veillas
26 OctoberSS9El Montmell 124.40 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R512:55.5Camilli / Veillas
26 OctoberSS10Savallà 214.08 kmCamilli / VeillasCitroën C3 R57:47.9Camilli / Veillas
26 OctoberSS11Querol 221.26 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R511:27.7Camilli / Veillas
26 OctoberSS12El Montmell 224.40 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R512:49.3Camilli / Veillas
26 OctoberSS13Salou2.24 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R52:36.5Camilli / Veillas
27 OctoberSS14Riudecanyes 116.35 kmCamilli / VeillasCitroën C3 R510:39.3Camilli / Veillas
27 OctoberSS15La Mussara 120.72 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R511:33.1Camilli / Veillas
27 OctoberSS16Riudecanyes 216.35 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R510:33.5Camilli / Veillas
27 OctoberSS17La Mussara 220.72 kmN. Solans / MartíVolkswagen Polo GTI R511:24.7Camilli / Veillas

Championship standings