28/02/2020

Over two days, the 38 crews will cover 578 km and 14 regularity stages, some of them included in the World Rally Championship

The fourth edition of the Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de les Caves has started today at 12.30 hours from Avenida de la Catedral in Barcelona. The participants are facing a route of 577.82 km, including 152.87 km split into 14 regularity stages. All of the stages are different and use roads that will be closed to the traffic, over the two days of the rally. After the start, the crews will cover 6 stages and spend the night in Salou. The rally will be restarted in this city on Saturday, to cover 8 additional stages. The second day will finish at Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona, venue of the dinner and the prize-giving ceremony.

The 38 classic cars that took the start in Barcelona today will race the regularity stages in the regions of Anoia, Bages, Alt Camp and Baix Camp, Alt Penedès and Baix Penedès and Conca de Barberà following a linear route during which no stage will be repeated. A highlight among the novelties of this edition is the inclusion of special stages that have been raced in recent editions of the RallyRACC, scoring round towards the World Rally Championship. This fact characterises the Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de les Caves as a top level and premium event. The landscapes of these regions and their vineyards will play again a significant role.

On this occasion, the race is part of the "Historic Regularity Challenge", an international championship created with the aim of promoting and sharing experiences of the Rally Catalunya Històric and the Ypres Historic Regularity Rally (November 2020). The idea is to have the winners of these rallies taking part in the next editions of these races for free, and the overall winner of the challenge will have a free entry to the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique in 2021.

14 stages: 6 on Friday and 8 on Saturday
Today, Friday, participants will cover six stages: Font Rubí, Puig de les Agulles, Pontons, El Montmell, L'Albiol and Riudecanyes. After the third stage, Aiguaviva-El Montmell, the crews will regroup. After a route of 238.53 km, including 59.51 km of regularity, they will reach the finish of the first leg, which will be located in the parc fermé of the Promenade in Salou from 20.15 hours.

All participants having chosen the Premium or All-included' option, will have dinner at Hotel Regente Aragón in Salou, with a menu designed by the chef of the restaurant Deliranto, which has one Michelin star.

On Saturday 29, the rally will be restarted at 9.00 hours. All participants, including those who chose the One Day' modality, who will have passed scrutineering and documentation checks in Salou, will face the longest leg: 8 stages with 93.46 km of regularity (Duesaigües, La Mussara, El Pont d'Armentera, Savallà-Conesa, Vallespinosa, Querol, Òdena and Talamanca). The regrouping on this second day will be in Santa Coloma de Queralt around noon, where the crews will have lunch.

The finish of the rally is scheduled at 19.30 hours in the parc fermé set-up at Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona. This will be the venue in which the winner of this edition will be announced during the final dinner, during which the prizes will be awarded to the winners of the different categories.

The 4th Rally Catalunya Històric-Rally de les Caves is sponsored by Hotel Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona and the Salou Tourism Board, and counts on the collaboration of Blunik Precision Chrono, the Barcelona City Council and the Sport newspaper.