| 2018 Rally Catalunya 54. RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Round 12 of 13 in the 2018 World Rally Championship
| |||
| Host country |  Spain | ||
| Rally base | Salou, Tarragona | ||
| Dates run | 25 – 28 October 2018 | ||
| Start location | Montjuïc, Barcelona | ||
| Finish location | Salou, Tarragona | ||
| Stages | 18 (331.58 km; 206.03 miles) | ||
| Stage surface | Tarmac and gravel | ||
| Transport distance | 1,132.79 km (703.88 miles) | ||
| Overall distance | 1,464.37 km (909.92 miles) | ||
| Statistics | |||
| Crews registered | 76 | ||
| Crews | 70 at start, 53 at finish | ||
| Overall results | |||
| Overall winner |  Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT3:12:08.0 | ||
| Power Stage winner |  Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | ||
| Support category results | |||
| WRC-2 winner |  Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen Škoda Motorsport II3:20:47.6 | ||
| WRC-3 winner |  Enrico Brazzoli Luca Beltrame Enrico Brazzoli3:58:18.3 | ||
The 2018 Rally Catalunya (formally known as the 54. RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada)[1] was a motor racing event for rally cars that took place between 25 and 28 October. The event was open to entries competing in World Rally Cars and cars complying with Group R regulations. It marked the fifty-fourth running of Rally Catalunya and was the twelfth round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship, the highest class of competition in international rallying.[2] Seventy-six crews, including manufacturer teams and privateers, were entered to compete in the World Rally Championship, the FIA World Rally Championship-2 and FIA World Rally Championship-3 support series and the Spanish national Rally Championship and Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica championship.[a] The 2018 event was based in Salou in Tarragona and consisted of eighteen special stages. The rally covered a total competitive distance of a 331.58 km (206.03 miles) and an additional 1,132.79 km (703.88 miles) in transport stages.[4]
Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle were the reigning rally winners, but did not defend their win after Meeke was fired from Citroën.[5] The Finnish crew of Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula were the reigning winners of the World Rally Championship-2, but did not defend their title as they will compete in the World Rally Championship class. Nil Solans and Miquel Ibáñez Sotos were the reigning World Rally Championship-3 winners, but Marc Martí replaced Ibáñez Sotos as Solans' co-driver in the WRC-2 category.
Nine-time world champions Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena won the rally for the first time since 2013 Rally Argentina.[6] The victory also marked Loeb the third oldest winner overall.[7] The margin between second-place Sébastien Ogier was 2.9 seconds, which also made the rally become the tenth closest wins in history.[8] The Škoda Motorsport II crew of Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen won in the World Rally Championship-2 in a Škoda Fabia R5, while the Italian crew of Enrico Brazzoli and Luca Beltrame won in the World Rally Championship-3.[9] The Czech crew of Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler finished second in WRC-2, which made them the drivers' and co-drivers' champions of 2018 World Rally Championship-2 respectively.[9]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Rally RACC Catalunya Entry Listwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Rally Aus retains WRC finale in 2018". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- ^ "54. RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada 2018". ewrc-results.com. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ "RallyRACC Catalunya - Rally de España". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ "Meeke nets win". wrc.com. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
- ^ "Sunday in Spain:Loeb Turns back the clock". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
- ^ "Statistics - Oldest and youngest winners". www.juwra.com.
- ^ "Statistics - Closest wins". www.juwra.com.
- ^ a b "WRC 2 in Spanin: Rovanperä Nets Masterful win". wrc.com. WRC. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
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