| 2019 Rally Catalunya 55. RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Round 13 of 14 in the 2019 World Rally Championship
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| Host country |  Spain | ||
| Rally base | Salou, Tarragona | ||
| Dates run | 24 – 27 October 2019 | ||
| Start location | Gandesa, Tarragona | ||
| Finish location | Baix Camp, Tarragona | ||
| Stages | 17 (325.56 km; 202.29 miles)[1] | ||
| Stage surface | Gravel / Tarmac | ||
| Transport distance | 953.78 km (592.65 miles) | ||
| Overall distance | 1,278.86 km (794.65 miles) | ||
| Statistics | |||
| Crews registered | 64 | ||
| Crews | 61 at start, 42 at finish | ||
| Overall results | |||
| Overall winner |  Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT3:07:39.6 | ||
| Power Stage winner |  Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | ||
| Support category results | |||
| WRC-2 winner |  Eric Camilli Benjamin Veillas Eric Camilli3:16:26.8 | ||
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.[2] It marks the fifty-fifth running of Rally Catalunya and is 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.[a] The 2019 event is based in Salou in Tarragona, and is contested over seventeen special stages with a total a competitive distance of 325.56 km (202.29 mi).
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.[4] 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.[5]
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.[6] 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.[7]
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.[8] 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.[7]
- ^ "Itinerary" (PDF). rallyracc.com. Rally de Catalunya. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
- ^ "FIA announces World Motor Sport Council decisions". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ "55. RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada 2019". ewrc-results.com. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ "Sunday in Spain:Loeb Turns back the clock". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
- ^ "WRC 2 in Spanin:Rovanperä Nets Masterful win". wrc.com. WRC. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ "Sunday in Spain: Tänak takes WRC title". wrc.com. WRC. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ^ a b "Sunday in WRC 2: Heartbreak for Loubet". wrc.com. WRC. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ^ "Tänak: 'mt title dilemma'". wrc.com. WRC. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
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