20/01/2017

Linear route in a premium rally; 736 km; 15 different stages, two of them in a circuit

Barcelona, 20 January 2017. With one month left for the start of the Rally Catalunya Històric 2017 Trofeu Dues Catalunyes, more than half of the spaces available are already taken, which seems to mean that on 7 February, the day the entry period closes, the 60 places available according to the structure of the event, will be covered. It will be a premium rally, meaning that all of the services, accommodation, meals and luggage transport will be included in the entry fee.

The Supplementary Regulations of the Rally Catalunya Històric, available at www.rallycatalunyahistoric.com, offer complete information for participants. However, the specific itinerary and the regularity stages, all on closed roads, will not be revealed until 22 February, the day of the official presentation of the event, the entry list and the itinerary.

The rally will have a total itinerary of 736.31 km, including 147.43 km of timed regularity sections, split into 15 stages on closed roads, all of which will be different (no repeating), two of them on a racetrack; Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya being the most emblematic of them. All of the stages will be run on closed roads or with restricted traffic, with average speeds of up to 55 km/h and two types of averages to choose from.

On 24 February, the documentation checks and scrutineering will be carried out from 10.00h to 13.15h at Avinguda de la Catedral in Barcelona. The start will be given on the podium located in that same place from 15.00h onwards, to cover 5 stages and reach Viladrau (19.42h). The main square of the village will hold a 15 regrouping to continue with further 3 stages that will take participants to Santa Coloma de Farners (Hotel Mas Solà, ****), where participants will have dinner and stay overnight.

The start of the second leg will be given at 8 oclock on Saturday 25 February, with destination Perpignan, where participants will start arriving at 13.06h after 4 new stages, one of them in France. The highest spot of the route will be reached on that day, namely 1,513 above the sea level at Coll d'Ares, the border crossing between the Catalan region of el Ripollès and the French region of Vallespir.

After a regrouping of 1.5 hours in Perpignan, during which participants will be having lunch, they will all head south to cover another 3 stages, one of them in France, to finish in Parc del Forum in Barcelona from 20.45h onwards. The prize-giving ceremony will be held during the closing dinner, starting at 22.00h in Hotel SB Diagonal Zero (****), where participants will also stay overnight.

The 1st Rally Catalunya Històric Trofeu Dues Catalunyes, the first regularity rally reserved for classic cars, directly organised by the RACC will be a linear race that will include all ingredients, structure and guarantees that only the largest automobile club of the country can offer. This first edition creates a formula that will recall every year the beginnings of Rally Catalunya, on its way to the World Rally Championship, but also bringing back the great car racing events that the club has organised along its history. The event that is being recalled on this first edition is Rallye de las Dos Cataluñas, which was staged between 1960 and 1965 with start and/or finish in Barcelona and Perpignan.