The 54th RallyRACC CATALUNYA-COSTA DAURADA Rally, the 2018 Rally of Spain, the 12th and the third-to-last round of the FIA World Rally Championship, will be held this year between October 25 and 28 and will feature important new features in its itinerary regarding the the last edition.
The triangle formed by the Costa Daurada, Salou and PortAventura World will remain, for the 14th time in a row, the epicenter of the Spanish WRC event. The RallyRACC is still the only rally of the entire World Cup calendar with mixed ground-asphalt and it is precisely on the ground floor where the race brings the main innovation.
The section that since 2010 has been part of the main difficulty of the stage on land, Terra Alta (Vilalba-La Fatarella), evolves to become the great novelty of this edition. The special happens to be called La Fatarella-Vilalba 'and will therefore have a completely different configuration than it was until now. The first 23 km are the end of Terra Alta in reverse, to which are added another 12 km to Vilalba dels Arcs. The asphalt-earth floor changes that it contemplates will continue to be decisive but in a totally new itinerary.
In this first stage they return two sections that since 2014 were not disputed: Gandesa 'and Pesells', which contributes to a first day in which the novelty is the norm. The other two stages, entirely on asphalt, will have sections known by the participants of the last two years, specials that have shown great selectivity.
Another novelty of 2018 will be the return of the Barcelona urban special, which will greatly contribute to the media expectation and that will be identical to what was done in the last edition that took place in 2016. In any case, the 54 RallyRACC will continue starting that same day (Thursday, October 25) in the morning from the podium in Salou. This city will also be the framework of the usual urban special test, which once again will be the timed event that will close Saturday's activity.
The 54 RallyRACC slightly increases the percentage of kilometers of speed, which this year are 331.78 by 312.02 a year ago.