The 2018 Rally Catalunya (formally known as the 54. RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada) was a motor racing event for

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

that took place between 25 and 28 October. The event was open to entries competing in

World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

s and cars complying with

Group R In relation to motorsport governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Group R refers to a set of regulations providing production-derived vehicles for rally competition. The Group R regulations were created in 2008 as a gradual ...

regulations. It marked the fifty-fourth running of

Rally Catalunya The Rally Catalunya (formerly: Rallye Catalunya) is a rally competition held in Catalonia region of Spain, on the World Rally Championship schedule. Now held on the wide, smooth and sweeping asphalt roads around the town of Salou, Costa Daurada ...

and was the twelfth round of the

2018 FIA World Rally Championship The 2018 FIA World Rally Championship was the 46th season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams an ...

, the highest class of competition in international

rallying Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

. Seventy-six crews, including manufacturer teams and

privateers A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

, were entered to compete in the World Rally Championship, the FIA World Rally Championship-2 and FIA World Rally Championship-3 support series and the Spanish national Rally Championship and Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica championship. The 2018 event was based in

Salou Salou () is a municipality of the ''comarca'' of Tarragonès, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The city is approximately 10 km from Tarragona and Reus on the Costa Daurada and 112 km from Barcelona. Founded by the Greek ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

and consisted of eighteen special stages. The rally covered a total competitive distance of a and an additional in transport stages.

Kris Meeke Kris Meeke (born 2 July 1979) is a Northern Irish professional rally driver, best known for competing in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). He was the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. His co-driver is Seb Marshall, also B ...

and

Paul Nagle Paul Nagle (born 29 August 1978) is an Irish rally co-driver. Drivers with whom he has teamed include Kris Meeke, Gareth MacHale and Craig Breen.

were the reigning rally winners, but did not defend their win after Meeke was fired from

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

. The Finnish crew of

Teemu Suninen Teemu Suninen (born February 1, 1994) is a Finnish rally driver. Suninen was driving for Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport WRT in WRC between 2017 and 2021. His manager is Timo Jouhki. Rally career Suninen won the WRC-3 class in the 2014 Rally Finlan ...

and

Mikko Markkula Mikko Markkula (born 3 January 1981) is a Finnish people, Finnish rally (sports), rally co-driver. Rally career Mikko Markkula began his Rallying, rally career in 2001, co-driver, co-driving for several drivers in the World Rally Championship. ...

were the reigning winners of the World Rally Championship-2, but did not defend their title as they will compete in the World Rally Championship class.

Nil Solans Nil Solans Baldó (born 14 April 1992) is a Spanish rally driver. Biography Solans won the Junior World Rally Championship and WRC-3 in 2017 He also was the winner of the GSeries Andorra three years in a row (2015, 2016 and 2017), champion of ...

and Miquel Ibáñez Sotos were the reigning World Rally Championship-3 winners, but

Marc Martí Marc Martí Moreno (born 1 October 1966) is a Spanish rally co-driver. Biography He debuted in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as a co-driver to Oriol Gómez in 1992. In the 1999 season, he began his partnership with Jesús Puras and the ...

replaced Ibáñez Sotos as Solans' co-driver in the WRC-2 category. Nine-time world champions

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He h ...

and

Daniel Elena Daniel Elena (born 26 October 1972) also known as "Danos" is a Monégasque rally co-driver working most notably with Sébastien Loeb. Between them the pair have won the World Rally Championship (WRC) nine times with Citroën, later competing wit ...

won the rally for the first time since

2013 Rally Argentina 2013 Rally Argentina (officially: 33rd Philips Rally Argentina) was the fifth rally in the 2013 World Rally Championship hold between 1 and 4 May. It had 14 special stages totalling 407.64 competitive kilometres. 24 out of 32 racer finished the r ...

. The victory also marked Loeb the third oldest winner overall. The margin between second-place

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champions ...

was 2.9 seconds, which also made the rally become the tenth closest wins in history. The Škoda Motorsport II crew of

Kalle Rovanperä Kalle Rovanperä (; born 1 October 2000 in Jyväskylä) is a Finnish professional rally driver, who competes in the World Rally Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. He is the reigning World Champion. As t ...

and

Jonne Halttunen Jonne Halttunen (born 13 December 1985) is a Finnish rally co-driver. Currently, he is the co-driver of Kalle Rovanperä, driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Previously, they represented Škoda Motorsport to participate in the World Rally Champio ...

won in the World Rally Championship-2 in a

Škoda Fabia R5 The Škoda Fabia R5 is a rally car built by Škoda Motorsport. It is based upon the Škoda Fabia road car and is built to R5 regulations. It made its competition début in 2015 as a successor to the Škoda Fabia S2000. The car proved to be very ...

, while the Italian crew of

Enrico Brazzoli Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from ''Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Henri (French), Enr ...

and

Luca Beltrame The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population from which all organisms now living on Earth share common descent—the most recent common ancestor of all current life on Earth. This includes all Cell (biology), cellula ...

won in the World Rally Championship-3. The Czech crew of

Jan Kopecký Jan Kopecký (born January 28, 1982) is a professional rally driver from Czech Republic who drives for Škoda Motorsport. He is the 2013 ERC champion, 2018 WRC-2 champion as well as a multiple champion of the Czech Rally Championship Career ...

and

Pavel Dresler Pavel (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). Pavel ...

finished second in WRC-2, which made them the drivers' and co-drivers' champions of

2018 World Rally Championship-2 The 2018 FIA World Rally Championship-2 was the sixth season of the World Rally Championship-2, an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, running in support of the World Rally Championship. It ...

respectively.

Background

Championship standings prior to the event

Thierry Neuville Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2013, 2016–201 ...

and

Nicolas Gilsoul Nicolas Gilsoul (born 5 February 1982) is a Belgian rally co-driver. He is the former co-driver for Thierry Neuville.

entered the round as the leaders of the World Rally Championship for Drivers and the World Rally Championship for Co-Drivers respectively. They held a seven-point lead over defending World Champions

and

Julien Ingrassia Julien Ingrassia (born 26 November 1979) is a retired French rally co-driver. Working with Sébastien Ogier, he became World Rally Champion in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 with Volkswagen Motorsport, 2017 and 2018 with M-Sport World Rally Team, ...

Ott Tänak Ott Tänak (; born 15 October 1987) is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is competing for Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT. Tänak achieved his maiden drivers' world title in t ...

and

Martin Järveoja Martin Järveoja (; born 18 August 1987) is an Estonian rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Ott Tänak and is competing for Hyundai in the World Rally Championship. Rally career He is the son of Estonian politician Toomas Järveoja, an ...

were third, a further fourteen points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers,

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT is a World Rally Championship (WRC) team based in Finland that serves as Toyota's official factory team. Its team principal is former WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala. The team made its début during the 2017 season, where i ...

held a twenty-point lead over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT. In the World Rally Championship-2 standings,

and

led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by fourteen points.

Pontus Tidemand Pontus Johan Tidemand (born 10 December 1990) is a Swedish Rallying, rally and Rallycross, rallycross driver. He is the 2017 WRC-2 champion and a previous M-Sport World Rally Team, M-Sport and Škoda Motorsport driver. Pontus is the son of Swedi ...

and Jonas Andersson were in second place, but they did not contest the rally. Tidemand was forty-one points ahead of privateers

Gus Greensmith Fergus "Gus" Greensmith (born 26 December 1996) is a British rally driver. Rally career Greensmith's family owns fuel and lubricants distributor Crown Oil. A former youth goalkeeper for Manchester City F.C. and karter before moving into the ...

in the drivers' standings, while Andersson held a forty-six points lead over

in the co-drivers' standings. Škoda Motorsport II held a forty-twenty-point lead over sister team

Škoda Motorsport Škoda Motorsport is the division of Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto responsible for motorsport activities. The team had competed as a manufacturer in the World Rally Championship between 1999 and 2005 and Intercontinental Rally Challenge (be ...

in the teams' championship. Junior World Rally Champion

Emil Bergkvist Emil Bergkvist (born 17 June 1994) is a Swedish rally driver. He has competed in the World Rally Championship since 2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; ...

led the World Rally Championship-3 drivers' standings, three points cleared of Taisko Lario.

Denis Rådström Denis may refer to: People * Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris * Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure * Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), baron in the Kingdom of Hungary * Denis the Carthusian (1402–14 ...

was another three points behind in third. In the World Rally Championship-3 co-drivers' standings, Tatu Hämäläinen led Johan Johansson by three points, while Romain Courbon was slender one point further behind. In the teams' championship, ACI Team Italia led Castrol Ford Team Turkiye by sixteen points.

Entry list

The following crews were entered into the rally. The entry list consisted of seventy-six crews, including thirteen World Rally Car entries, twenty-one entries in the World Rally Championship-2 and four in the World Rally Championship-3.

Itinerary

Report

Pre-event

The rally marked

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

's return to the World Championship with a factory-supported team after the company withdrew from the category in 2016.

Volkswagen Motorsport The Volkswagen Motorsport was a works rally team of the German car manufacturer Volkswagen, who competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and Dakar Rally. The team started competing in WRC in 1978 and used different specs of Volkswagen Gol ...

will enter two

Volkswagen Polo GTI The Volkswagen Polo is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen since 1975. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, and estate variants throughout its production run. History ...

s built to Group R5 specifications in the

World Rally Championship-2 The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...

support series. They will be driven by 2003 World Drivers' Champion

Petter Solberg Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg started ...

and

M-Sport M-Sport is an auto racing team and motorsport engineering company headquartered at Dovenby Hall near Cockermouth, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom. Formed in 1979 by the World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson, and originally known as ...

regular

Eric Camilli Eric Camilli (born 6 September 1987) is a French rally driver. He has competed in the World Rally Championship since 2014. After starting out in the lower levels, he made his debut in the top level in 2016 while driving for M-Sport in a Ford Fi ...

Leg 1

showed his speed once again in Spain. He pulled away from everyone except his teammate

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 ...

, who set three fastest stage times during the day. However, an unexpected

puncture Puncture, punctured or puncturing may refer to: * a flat tyre in British English (US English "flat tire" or just "flat") * a penetrating wound caused by pointy objects as nails or needles * Lumbar puncture, also known as a spinal tap * Puncture ...

cost the Finn around fifty seconds, leaving him fifth at the end of day 1. Local hero

Dani Sordo Daniel "Dani" Sordo Castillo (born 2 May 1983) is a Spanish rally driver. He competes in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He achieved his first WRC victory at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland. Career Sordo began in motocross whe ...

led

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

in second, followed by

Elfyn Evans Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Wales, Welsh rally driver. He is currently teamed with Scott Martin (co-driver), Scott Martin and is competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Toyota Gazoo Racing in the World Rally Championship. Care ...

in third in a

Ford Fiesta WRC The Ford Fiesta WRC is a World Rally Car built by the M-Sport World Rally Team for use in the World Rally Championship starting in 2017. It is based upon the 2017 Ford Fiesta road car, and replaced the Ford Fiesta RS WRC, which competed between ...

. Nine-time world champion

stalled his C3 at the opening stage in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, but he managed to recover to fourth place overall, just half a second off the podium. Sixth-place

Andreas Mikkelsen Andreas Mikkelsen (born 22 June 1989) is a Norwegian rally driver. He is currently competing in the World Rally Championship-2 for Toksport World Rally Team. He previously drove for the factory teams of Volkswagen, Citroën and Hyundai in the Wor ...

was unable to find his form in the morning loop, but a setting adjustment put him on a charge and allowed him to end the day ahead of defending world champion

, who was fastest in

Shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...

and the 2.97-kilometer-long street stage on Thursday.

Craig Breen Craig Breen (born 2 February 1990) is an Irish rally driver, who competes part time in the Hyundai team in the WRC (World Rally Championship). He was the 2012 WRC Super 2000 world rally champion, scoring class wins in the Monte Carlo Rally, Wa ...

was in fifth before the final stage despite a spin, but the Irishman lost a chunk of his C3's

rear wing A spoiler is an automotive aerodynamic device whose intended design function is to 'spoil' unfavorable air movement across a body of a vehicle in motion, usually described as turbulence or drag. Spoilers on the front of a vehicle are often ca ...

and dropped to eighth overall. Championship leader

didn't start well. The Belgian rolled his

Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC The Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC (originally known as the Hyundai New Generation i20 WRC) is a World Rally Car built by Hyundai for use in the World Rally Championship starting in 2017. It is based on the Hyundai i20 subcompact car, and is the successo ...

at the

and damaged to the front left, the

bonnet A Bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include Scottish * Blue bonnet, a distinctive woollen cap worn by men in Scotland from the 15th-18th centuries And its derivations: **Feath ...

and roof. Being first on the road, he was also struggling with his car's handling. He eventually finished the day nearly one minute off the lead in ninth overall ahead of

Esapekka Lappi Esapekka Lappi (born 17 January 1991) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2012 Finnish Rally Champion, 2014 European Rally Champion and the 2016 WRC-2 Champion. Career 2012 Lappi won the 2012 Finnish Rally Championship with Ford Fiesta S2000 ...

, who slid off the road in the morning and spun later on.

Leg 2

Tyre choice was crucial on day 2.

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

duo

and

chose full wet tyres for the morning loop and set brilliant pace. Despite their tyre choices, rally leader Tänak plunged to eighth after changing a front-left punctured tyre cost them about two minutes of time, which made local hero

the new rally leader. Stage conditions changed in the afternoon, meaning crews who chose wet tyres unable to match the pace set by those who used slick tyres. Championship leader

benefited from slicks, finishing the day in fifth, 12.7 seconds off the lead. Teammate Sordo didn't have a good run. Although he made the same choice as Neuville, he encountered muddy roads due to being lower in the running order, which dropped him down to sixth. After the chaotic leg 2, Latvala led the rally, just 4.7 seconds ahead of defending world champion

, who took his chance with wet weather tyres in the afternoon and gained three places. Nine-time world champion

was 3.3 seconds further behind, edging

by 1.8 seconds.

's Neuville and Sordo ended in fifth and sixth respectively. The top six crews were separated by just twenty seconds.

completed the day in seventh after a lurid sixth-gear spin, followed by early leader Tänak.

had two spins in the day and finished ahead of

in tenth.

Leg 3

Choosing the hard compound tyre,

charged into the lead and eventually won his first rally since

. This was also

's first rally victory of the season. Defending world champion

found something extra in his

and completed the rally in second with four additional

Power Stage The Power Stage (abbreviated as PS) is a special stage that usually runs as the final stage of a rally in the World Rally Championship (WRC). Additional championship points are available to the fastest five crews through the stage regardless of ...

points. The Frenchman will go to

Rally Australia Rally Australia is an automobile rally event which was held in Coffs Harbour as the final leg of the World Rally Championship (WRC) until 2018. First run in 1988, the rally was held in and around Perth, Western Australia until 2006. It was par ...

as the championship leader. Teammate

also found his form in the rally and successfully held the

drivers

— who suffered an unexpected

caused by a stone at the last few kilometers of the event — and

behind to snatch his second podium finish of the year.

was leading, but another

in the second-last stage pushed him down to sixth. He eventually finished the rally in eighth after giving positions to his title contender teammate

and

respectively, with

and

completing the top ten finishers.

Classification

Final results

Point scorers

Special stages

Power stage

The

Power stage The Power Stage (abbreviated as PS) is a special stage that usually runs as the final stage of a rally in the World Rally Championship (WRC). Additional championship points are available to the fastest five crews through the stage regardless of ...

was a 14.50 km stage at the end of the rally. Additional World Championship points were awarded to the five fastest crews.

Penalties

The following crews were given time penalties during the rally.

Retirements

The following crews retired from the event. Under Rally2 regulations, they were eligible to re-enter the event starting from the next leg. Crews that re-entered were given an additional time penalty.

Championship standings after the rally

*Bold text indicates 2018 World Champions.

Drivers' championships

Co-Drivers' championships

Manufacturers' and teams' championships

Notes

References

External links

* * 2018

Rally de Catalunya The Rally Catalunya (formerly: Rallye Catalunya) is a rally competition held in Catalonia region of Spain, on the World Rally Championship schedule. Now held on the wide, smooth and sweeping asphalt roads around the town of Salou, Costa Daurada ...

i
e-wrc website
* Th
official website
of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rally Catalunya, 2018

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