11/04/2021

The 5th Rally Catalunya Històric has been organised by the RACC in collaboration with the Salou Tourism Board, and has been a scoring round towards the Catalan Championship.

- Juan Pedro García-Sergi Giralt (Autobianchi A-112 Abarth) and Josep Maria Bardolet-Carles Jiménez (Seat 1400-B) complete the podium.
- José Luis Moreno-Isidre Noguera (BMW 320i) winners of the Regularidad Súper Sport category.
- The event enjoyed an excellent atmosphere in Salou and great competitiveness on the roads of the interior Tarragona area.

Salou (Tarragonès), 11 April 2021. The crew made up of Carles Miró and Ivan Matavacas (Porsche 911 SC) took the victory of the 5th Rally Catalunya Històric. The 2-day event was based in Salou and the itinerary covered the roads of the interior area of the Tarragona region. This has been the second time that the crew, based in Osona, took the win, after the victory achieved in the first edition of the rally, back in 2017. The 5th Rally Catalunya Històric has been organised by the RACC in collaboration with the Salou Torusim Board, and has been a scoring round towards the Catalan Championship.

Split into three categories, 81 crews took the start last Friday from Passeig Jaume I in Salou, an excellent meeting point for the motorsport competition, considering that it is the same location of the RallyRACC, scoring round towards the World Rally Championship. Along the race, the crews negotiated the 12 special stages covering a total of 489.55 km, 147.4 km of which were regularity.

The four stages of the rally that were run on Friday, the last of which at night, already showed how the race may evolve, with the duo Mia Bardolet-Carles Jiménez (Seat 1400B) arriving in Salou leading the Regularity Sport class, but only 6 tenths ahead of Carles Miró-Ivan Matavacas (Porsche 911 SC). As regards the Regularity Super Sport class, the leading position had been taken, with a certain advantage, by Xavier Domingo-Jordi Ibarra (BMW M3), ahead of José Luis Moreno-Isidre Noguera (BMW 320i), who would become the eventual winners of the class.

On Friday afternoon, the road conditions were quite varied. Some road sections were dry, but in others, the vehicles found themselves on wet surfaces which turned the asphalt quite slippery, and they even had to face some sections with fog, during the L'Albiol section.

On Saturday, with eight stages ahead, the strong evenness between the best regularity crews became evident. The roads were in good conditions, which allowed drivers and co-drivers to show their very best driving and navigation qualities. The leading spots were constantly changing during the second race day. The rally reached the last two stages with two teams having huge changes for the victory: Carles Miró-Ivan Matavacas (Porsche 911 SC) and Josep Maria Bardolet-Carles Jiménez (Seat 1400-B), both crews that were already leading on the previous day.

Eventually, Carles Miró-Ivan Matavacas (Porsche 911 SC) managed to win, in extremis, but the surprise came with the second position, which was taken by Juan Pedro García-Sergi Giralt (Autobianchi A-112 Abarth) two tenths ahead of Josep Maria Bardolet-Carles Jiménez (Seat 1400-B), who had to settle for third, a position that shows, however, their great quality and fighting spirit.

Historically, the top positions of the Rally Catalunya Històric have been taken largely by these three crews, which are already usual participants of the RACC's event. Miró and Matavacas won the first edition of the race, staged in 2017, and finished fourth and fifth (twice) in the other two. García and Giralt finished second in the last edition (2020). Although it is true that in this edition Mia Bardolet stepped on the podium for the first time, co-driver Carles Jiménez had already won twice with other two drivers.

The fourth position went to Lluís Pallí-Guillem Buscarons with their small Innocenti Mini Cooper and the fifth went to Jordi Fanlo-Joan Jordán (Porsche 911 SC), ahead of the women-only team, usual participants of the Rally Catalunya Històric as well, Tere Armadans-Anna Vives (Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2), who finished sixth in a rally in which they already have achieved five results among the top six.

In the regularity Super Sport category, after the retirement of Domingo-Ibarra (BMW), as a consequence of a breakdown, who were leading on Friday, the victory went to José Luis Moreno-Isidre Noguera (BMW 320i), unrivalled along their way to the highest spot of the classification in this modality. The Legend FCA category, which is not competitive, but only exhibition, also offered a large group of cars with a huge historic value.

The RACC and the Salou Tourism Board have created a great regularity event. As regards organisational aspects of the rally, which counted on all safety and prevention measures as regards the Covid-19 pandemic, all those involved showed their satisfaction and the roads were perfect for a regularity event, as they already are for a WRC speed rally.

Overall Classification Regularity Sport
1-Carles Miró-Ivan Matavacas (Porsche 911 SC, H2), 33,4 points
2-Juan Pedro García-Sergi Giralt (Autobianchi A-112 Abarth, H3), 39,2 points
3-Josep Maria Bardolet-Carles Jiménez (Seat 1400-B, H2), 39,4 points
4-Lluís Pallí-Guillem Buscarons (Innocenti Mini Cooper, H3), 42,5 points
5-Jordi Fanlo-Joan Jordán (Porsche 911 SC, H1), 46,9 points
6-Tere Armadans-Anna Vives (Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2, H2), 48,3 points
7-Antonio Verdaguer-María Jesús Mora (Porsche 944 Turbo, C4), 62,1 points
8-Joaquim Muntada-Marc Erra (Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2, H1), 63 points
9-Pau Coma Cros-Marcos Rivero (Porsche 911, H2), 64,2 points
10-Joan Riberas-Joan Circuns (Porsche 911 SC, H1), 66,3 points
Up to 53 classified crews.

Final Classification Regularity Super Sport
1-José Luis Moreno-Isidre Noguera (BMW 320i E30, H2), 102,8 points
2-Ramon Dalmau-Antoni Moragas (BMW 325i, C5), 141,7 points
3-Alexandre Thoreau-Daniel Thoreau (Lancia Delta Integrale, C5), 169,5 points
4-Jorge Villasan-Pedro Villasan (Volkswagen Golf GTI, H3), 249,1 points
5-Marc Mayoral-Jordi Vilaseca (Volkswagen Scirocco 16V, C5), 301,2 points
6-Lluís Coma Cros-Daniel Ferreiro (Porsche 930 Turbo, H1), 401,6 points
7-Roger Serra-Antonio Angulo (BMW 323i, H2), 864,6 points
8-Manuel Álvarez-Ismael Lozano (Toyota Celica 2.0 GTI, C6), 954,8 points
9-Josep Costa-Marc Duran (Porsche 911 SC, H1), 1.266 points
10-Jaume Insa-Carlos Jané (Volkswagen Golf GTI, H3), 1.489,4 points
Up to 15 classified crews.