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Spain countdown: rally route

Spain's Rallyracc Catalunya - Rally de España (13 - 16 october) holds a unique place in the FIA World Rally Championship calendar as the only mixed surface round of the season.

For a seventh year drivers tackle gravel and asphalt speed tests, with the spotlight on hard-working mechanics at the end of Friday's first full day as they transform World Rally Cars from loose surface to sealed road specification.

The roads in the hills above the Costa Daurada coastline, south of Barcelona, are familiar to the WRC regulars. However, two of Saturday's special stages will comprise asphalt driven in the opposite direction to last year and several others have been tweaked.
As has become traditional, the action opens with a spectacular street stage in Barcelona on Thursday evening on the lower section of Montjuïc hill, covering roads that used to host the Spanish Grand Prix and circling the famous fountain.

Friday's stages are virtually unchanged from 2015 with a loop of three stages driven twice. Two are gravel while the Terra Alta test, the longest of the weekend, uses both dirt and asphalt and features five surface changes during its 38.95km.

Mistakes or mechanical problems could prove costly as there is no service until competitors return to the rally's Salou base in the evening. Their only respite is a tyre fitting zone in Ascó.

After the mechanics have worked their miracles, it is smooth, circuit-like asphalt all the way to the finish. Saturday's longest leg covers 139.18km, with the Querol and El Montmell tests back for the first time since 2013. The day ends with a fan-favourite test on Salou seafront.

Sunday's finale is identical to 2015, containing two loops of the Pratdip and Duesaigües tests, split by service. The opener in Pratdip will be in darkness while the closing Duesaigües, where Sébastien Ogier crashed out of the lead last year, forms the live TV Power Stage, with bonus points for the fastest three drivers.

The 19 stages cover 321.08km in a route of 1378.31km.

Zdroj: wrc.com