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Barcelona street stage return

Barcelona's fan favourite city centre street test returns to kick-off this year's RallyRACC Catalunya-Rally de España (25-28 october).

The 12th round of the year begins with the asphalt special stage on Thursday evening, using 3.2km of roads in the Montjuïc area of the city. An almost identical version of the test was last used in 2016.

Organisers have unveiled a revised route for the only mixed-surface rally on the WRC calendar. Crews tackle 18 stages across 331.78km, featuring the return of some tests omitted from recent editions.

Friday is the only day of gravel competition and crews who took part in the 2014 event will be familiar with two of the three stages - Gandesa (7km) and Pesells (26.59km).

The third speed test is the newly-configured La Fatarella-Vilalba. It uses the final 23km of last year's Terra Alta stage - run in reverse - married to 12km of new roads and is the longest stage of the rally at 38.95km. All three are repeated in the afternoon.

Last year's Savallà and El Montmell tests return on Saturday but in the opposite direction - with the Querol stage splitting the two passes. All three tests are run again in the afternoon before the 2.24km Salou Super Special completes the day.

Sunday features two stages that are tackled twice. The Riudecanyes and Santa Marina tests remain unchanged from 2017, with the latter hosting the showcase Live TV Power Stage. This year there is a 30-minute service between the two passes.

Zdroj: wrc.com