Following heavy overnight rainfall in Catalonia, this morning’s RallyRACC shakedown was held in decidedly muddy conditions. The Abu Dhabi Total WRT crews were content to check that their cars were working properly, without pushing for fast times.
Held on roads close to the Salou service park, the Rally de España shakedown was not, by its very nature, representative of the stages that the competitors are due to contest over the next few days. Hit by over 60mm of rainfall on Wednesday, the 2.36km stage was transformed into a giant paddling pool for the World Rally Cars.
There was certainly no point in trying to improve the set-up during this morning’s test. The sole challenge consisted in completing the three mandatory runs without damaging the cars.
Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle set the fourth fastest time with a 2:15.6, whilst Craig Breen and Scott Martin finished eleventh with a time of 2:17.8. On their first WRC appearance for almost two months, Khalid Al Qassimi and Chris Patterson were fifteenth with a time of 2:20.3.
After this mud bath, the mechanics will now prepare the cars for this afternoon’s ceremonial start, which gets underway at 1.00pm. Afterwards, the competitors will drive to Barcelona, where they will contest the opening stage on the Montjuic hill from 6.08pm. The cars will then head back to Salou where they will stay in parc ferme until Friday morning.
The first leg of the RallyRACC will be principally held on gravel, before switching to all-tarmac roads for the next two days.
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Kris Meeke: “This morning’s shakedown wasn’t very useful for the rally, so we just completed the three runs so that the engineers could check that the car was okay. The real difficulties will start with tomorrow’s gravel stages. During recce, the roads were dry and dusty. After last night’s rain, we don’t know what sort of condition the stages will be in. It’ll be a big challenge, especially in the narrow sections. I’ve never been really comfortable here and it’s an event where I think I still lack experience, but I hope that I’ve improved as I have done at the other rallies.”
Craig Breen: “We completed the three mandatory runs. It was very muddy so I didn’t push to try and look after the car. We had a good recce. I already know almost all of the stages and overall, it’s a course that I really like. I don’t think that there was much rainfall on the stages we are due to tackle tomorrow, but we’ll see what the roads are like when we drive on them!”
Khalid Al Qassimi: “I’m very pleased to be back at this event, even though the weather hasn’t been what we were expecting! This morning, the shakedown stage was very slippery and these conditions weren’t ideal for getting back up to speed on gravel. If the poor weather stays with us, that will make the rally even more difficult than usual. I’m looking forward to being in Barcelona for tonight’s opening city centre stage. It’s always good to get closer to the fans so they have a chance to see the WRC.”