The 2019 Rally Catalunya (also known as RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada 2019) was a motor racing event for rally cars which was held over four days between 24 and 27 October 2019. It marks the fifty-fifth running of Rally Catalunya and was the thirteenth round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, the newly created WRC-2 Pro class, World Rally Championship-2, the Spanish national Rally Championship and Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica championship. The 2019 event was based in Salou in Tarragona, and was contested over seventeen special stages with a total a competitive distance of .
Nine-time world champions Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena were the defending rally winners. Citroën Total WRT, the team they drove for in 2018, were the defending manufacturers' winners. The Finnish crew of Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen were the defending rally winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not defend their titles as they were promoted to the newly created WRC-2 Pro class.
Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul won the rally for the first time in their career. Their team, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, were the manufacturers' winners. The Citroën Total crew of Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen won the WRC-2 Pro category, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category, while the French crew of Eric Camilli and Benjamin Veillas won the wider WRC-2 class.
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja finished second overall as well as taking the power stage victory, which was enough for them to seal their maiden World Rally Championship titles. This made Tänak the first non-French driver to be World Rally Champion since Petter Solberg won the 2003 World Rally Championship title, ending a run of 5,831 days in which a Sébastien was the current champion. With a 2-3 finish in the Pro category, Škoda Motorsport took the first World Rally Championship-2 Pro manufacturers’ title.
Background Championship standings prior to the event Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships by twenty-eight-points ahead of defending world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul were third, a further thirteen points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held an eight-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.
In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings, newly crowned champions Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen led by sixty-six points in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson are second, with Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen further five points behind in third. In the manufacturers' championship, Škoda Motorsport led M-Sport Ford WRT by fifty-three points, with Citroën Total over a hundred points behind in third.
In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by six and eight points respectively. Benito Guerra and Maciej Szczepaniak were second, while Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Yaroslav Fedorov were third.
Entry list The following crews entered into the rally. The event opened to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro, Spanish national Rally Championship, Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica championship and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of sixty-four entries were received, with eleven crews entered with World Rally Cars and twenty-four entered the World Rally Championship-2. Four crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class.
No. Driver Co-Driver Entrant Car Tyre World Rally Car entries 1 Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 3 Teemu Suninen Jarmo Lehtinen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC 4 Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 5 Kris Meeke Sebastian Marshall Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 6 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 8 Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 10 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 11 Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 17 Takamoto Katsuta Daniel Barritt Tommi Mäkinen Racing Toyota Yaris WRC 19 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 33 Elfyn Evans Scott Martin M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC World Rally Championship-2 Pro entries 21 Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia R5 Evo 22 Gus Greensmith Elliott Edmondson M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II 23 Mads Østberg Torstein Eriksen Citroën Total Citroën C3 R5 24 Jan Kopecký Jan Hloušek Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia R5 Evo World Rally Championship-2 entries 41 Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais Pierre-Louis Loubet Škoda Fabia R5 Evo 42 Benito Guerra Daniel Cué Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia R5 Evo 43 Kajetan Kajetanowicz Maciej Szczepaniak Kajetan Kajetanowicz Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 44 Nikolay Gryazin Yaroslav Fedorov Nikolay Gryazin Škoda Fabia R5 Evo 45 Marco Bulacia Wilkinson Fabian Cretu Marco Bulacia Wilkinson Škoda Fabia R5 46 Fabio Andolfi Simone Scattolin Fabio Andolfi Škoda Fabia R5 47 Ole Christian Veiby Jonas Andersson Ole Christian Veiby Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 48 Alberto Heller José Díaz Alberto Heller Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II 49 Paulo Nobre Gabriel Morales Paulo Nobre Škoda Fabia R5 50 Adrien Fourmaux Renaud Jamoul Adrien Fourmaux Ford Fiesta R5 51 Rhys Yates James Morgan Rhys Yates Hyundai i20 R5 52 Simone Tempestini Sergiu Itu Simone Tempestini Hyundai i20 R5 53 Emil Lindholm Mikael Korhonen Emil Lindholm Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 54 Guillaume De Mevius Martijn Wydaeghe Guillaume De Mevius Citroën C3 R5 55 "Pedro" Emanuele Baldaccini "Pedro" Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II 56 Eric Camilli Benjamin Veillas Eric Camilli Citroën C3 R5 57 Nil Solans Marc Martí Nil Solans Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 58 José Antonio Suárez Alberto Iglesias José Antonio Suárez Škoda Fabia R5 59 Jan Solans Mauro Barreiro Jan Solans Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II Other Major Entries 80 Fabrizio Zaldivar Fernando Mussano Fabrizio Zaldivar Ford Fiesta R2 Source:
Route The La Mussara stage is scheduled to return to the itinerary for the first time since 2014 and due to run as the Power stage on Sunday.
Itinerary All dates and times are CEST (UTC+2) from 24 to 26 October 2019 and CET (UTC+1) on 27 October 2019. Date Time No. Stage name Distance 24 October 9:01 — Salou [Shakedown] 2.00 km Leg 1 — 129.70 km 25 October 9:23 SS1 Gandesa 1 7.00 km 10:03 SS2 Horta-Bot 1 19.00 km 11:13 SS3 La Fatarella — Vilalba 1 38.85 km 15:26 SS4 Gandesa 2 7.00 km 16:06 SS5 Horta-Bot 2 19.00 km 17:16 SS6 La Fatarella — Vilalba 2 38.85 km Leg 2 — 121.72 km 26 October 9:00 SS7 Savallà 1 14.08 km 9:41 SS8 Querol 1 21.26 km 10:38 SS9 El Montmell 1 24.40 km 14:01 SS10 Savallà 2 14.08 km 14:42 SS11 Querol 2 21.26 km 15:38 SS12 El Montmell 2 24.40 km 17:30 SS13 Salou 2.24 km Leg 3 — 74.14 km 27 October 7:41 SS14 Riudecanyes 1 16.35 km 8:38 SS15 La Mussara 1 20.72 km 10:54 SS16 Riudecanyes 2 16.35 km 12:18 SS17 La Mussara 2 [Power Stage] 20.72 km Source:
Report World Rally Cars It was a devastating blow for the reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier's title hope. After setting the fastest stage time at the opening stage, the Frenchman's C3 was crawling through the rest of the morning loop due to power steering failure and loss of hydraulics, which lost the six-time world champion nearly three minutes. Citroën's rally went from bad to worse as Esapekka Lappi retired from the rally with engine issues in the afternoon loop. Hyundai ended the first leg in 1-2-3 after all three drivers set impressive times, until Kris Meeke broke the monopoly after the first stage of the second leg. However, his position was short-lived as the Briton understeer into the barrier and retired from the day. Despite Meeke's retirement, the Korean squad's 1-2-3 was still under threat from the title-chasing Ott Tänak, who won four stages on Saturday. The championship leader was flying through the power stage and snatched second from local hero Dani Sordo to seal his maiden WRC title. Thierry Neuville eventually won the rally for the first time in Spain.
Classification Position Driver Entrant Car Time Points Event Class Event Stage 1 1 11 Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3:07:39.6 0.0 25 3 2 2 8 Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 3:07:56.8 +17.2 18 5 3 3 6 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3:07:57.2 +17.6 15 2 4 4 19 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3:08:33.5 +53.9 12 0 5 5 10 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 3:08:39.8 +1:00.2 10 0 6 6 7 Elfyn Evans Scott Martin M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC 3:08:53.8 +1:14.2 8 4 7 7 3 Teemu Suninen Marko Salminen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC 3:09:27.2 +1:47.6 6 0 8 8 1 Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 3:12:00.1 +4:20.5 4 1 29 9 5 Kris Meeke Sebastian Marshall Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 3:49:59.6 +42:20.0 0 0 39 10 17 Takamoto Katsuta Daniel Barritt Tommi Mäkinen Racing Toyota Yaris WRC 4:03:36.4 +55:56.8 0 0 Retired SS5 4 Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC Engine 0 0
Special stages Date No. Stage name Distance Winners Car Time Class leaders 24 October — Salou [Shakedown] 2.00 km Meeke / Marshall Toyota Yaris WRC 1:31.6 25 October SS1 Gandesa 1 7.00 km Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C3 WRC 4:16.8 Ogier / Ingrassia SS2 Horta-Bot 1 19.00 km Neuville / Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 10:18.5 Neuville / Gilsoul SS3 La Fatarella — Vilalba 1 38.85 km Loeb / Elena Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 26:30.9 Sordo / del Barrio SS4 Gandesa 2 7.00 km Sordo / del Barrio Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 4:12.0 SS5 Horta-Bot 2 19.00 km Loeb / Elena Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 10:01.5 SS6 La Fatarella — Vilalba 2 38.85 km Loeb / Elena Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 25:46.8 Loeb / Elena 26 October SS7 Savallà 1 14.08 km Neuville / Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 7:25.9 Neuville / Gilsoul SS8 Querol 1 21.26 km Neuville / Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 10:52.4 SS9 El Montmell 1 24.40 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 12:16.2 SS10 Savallà 2 14.08 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 7:25.2 SS11 Querol 2 21.26 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 10:55.6 SS12 El Montmell 2 24.40 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 12:12.7 SS13 Salou 2.24 km Neuville / Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 2:35.7 27 October SS14 Riudecanyes 1 16.35 km Neuville / Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 10:13.5 SS15 La Mussara 1 20.72 km Sordo / del Barrio Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 10:58.5 SS16 Riudecanyes 2 16.35 km Sordo / del Barrio Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 10:11.4 SS17 La Mussara 2 [Power Stage] 20.72 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 10:49.6
Championship standings Bold text indicates 2019 World Champions. Drivers' championships Co-drivers' championships Manufacturers' championshipsMoveDriverPointsMoveCo-driverPointsMoveManufacturerPoints 1 Ott Tänak 263 Martin Järveoja 263 Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 380 2 1 Thierry Neuville 227 1 Nicolas Gilsoul 227 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 362 3 1 Sébastien Ogier 217 1 Julien Ingrassia 217 Citroën Total WRT 284 4 Andreas Mikkelsen 102 Anders Jæger-Amland 102 M-Sport Ford WRT 218 5 1 Elfyn Evans 102 1 Scott Martin 102
World Rally Championship-2 Pro Mads Østberg dominated Friday with an over-40-second lead going into Saturday. However, the Norwegian's lead was under a big threat from the freshly-crowned WRC-2 Pro champion Kalle Rovanperä, until the youngster hit a post in the Salou stage and damaged the rear axle on his Fabia R5. That left Østberg comfortable to win the category.
Classification