Gravel stages to feature on Rally de España

The organisers of Rally de España have revealed that in a break from its traditional all-asphalt format, this year's event will feature a mixture of road surfaces with more than 70 per cent of Friday's mileage run on gravel.

The RACC Automóvil Club has confirmed a series of changes for this year's event, the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship, which will be held from 22 to 24 October.

The rally's opening day features two mixed asphalt-gravel stages and one all-gravel stage. Of Friday's 136 timed kilometres, 73 per cent will be driven on gravel with the remaining 27 per cent on asphalt. The mixed surface challenge will force teams to start with gravel settings on their cars and change suspension, brakes and wheels at the end of the day ready for the sealed surface roads of days two and three.

“We are and we want to continue being an asphalt rally, but we have included a mixed day. This new rally concept benefits the show, both for spectators and for the media," explained RallyRACC Clerk of the Course Aman Barfull.

"The Cyprus Rally in 2009 was the first to introduce an asphalt day in a gravel rally. We are doing the contrary, i.e. including gravel stages in an asphalt rally. In Cyprus all cars were fitted with gravel suspensions and wheels throughout the race, while at the RallyRACC these elements will have to be changed at the end of the first day," he added.

For the sixth year in a row, stages will be based in the Tarragona and Costa Daurada regions, with the Service Park in the city of Salou at the PortAventura theme park. Each of the rally's three days comprises a loop of stages to be run once in the morning and then repeated in the afternoon.

Friday's opening day comprises three stages, starting with 'Terra Alta' (35km) which starts on gravel, continues on asphalt, changes back to gravel and finishes again on asphalt. 'La Ribera d’Ebre' will offer 15km with a pure gravel surface, while 'Les Garrigues' (18km) will mix both surfaces, starting and finishing on gravel, with a central section on asphalt.

Saturday features three special stages which were used in 2009: 'Santa Marina' (26km); 'La Mussara' (20km) and 'Riudecanyes' (16km). Sunday's third and final day will include the longest stage of the rally (El Priorat, 42km) and the shortest (La Serra d’Almos, 4km) both of which featured in 2009.

To help teams prepare for the mixed surface challenge, Thursday's shakedown has been switched from an asphalt road in Riudecanyas to a mixed surface road on the outskirts of Salou featuring 1km of gravel and 2km of asphalt.

Source: WRC