As Spain makes rapid return
For the second time in five months the sweeping roads of northern Spain will host the FIA World Rally Championship, marking the competition debut of the new Ford Focus RS World Rally Car on pure asphalt. Having already proved its pace on snow, ice and gravel, the Rally de España (23 - 26 March) will provide the first chance for BP-Ford drivers Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen and team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen to sample the car on traditional asphalt.
Both Grönholm and Hirvonen feel confident about the performance of the Focus RS on sealed surfaces. The Finns have tested successfully on asphalt and both were delighted with the car's speed during January's Rallye Monte Carlo, an event that mixes asphalt with snow and ice and in which Grönholm claimed a debut victory for the BP-Ford World Rally Team.
The Catalonia roads were last tackled in October, when the event formed the penultimate round of the 2005 championship. Now it has switched from late autumn to early spring and forms the first part of an asphalt double-header with next month's Rallye de France in Corsica. The date switch is likely to bring cooler temperatures and an increased likelihood of rain.
The rally is based on the Costa Daurada coast, south west of Barcelona, for the second year. While many roads have been resurfaced since the region hosted a leg of this rally several years ago, the asphalt remains highly abrasive in places.
It is regarded as the most flowing event in the calendar, the roads more similar to a race circuit in their characteristics than any other round. This means drivers take massive cuts across the inside of corners, often placing virtually all the car onto the grass in an attempt to shave tenths of a second from their stage times. The process drags dirt and stones onto the asphalt, making the stages slippery on the second pass.
Grönholm, winner of two of the first three rallies in the 16-round championship, recognises the importance of the next month on the season as a whole. "If you look back at 2004 the Focus RS showed what a good car it was on asphalt," said the 38-year-old Finn. "This is a new car but I've driven it enough already to know that it is competitive on that surface. We will have tough competition in Spain but anything is possible. The next two rallies are very important. Because I made a mistake in Mexico and scored only one point, I really need to win one of the next two rallies to maintain a strong championship position.
"It isn't an easy event. You need to think like a racing driver on those roads. But that doesn't come naturally to me. The asphalt is quite abrasive which means we have to think about tyre selection carefully. I also remember last year when conditions were sunny and dry in the service park but raining heavily in the special stages. So accurate weather information from our personnel in the stages will be essential," added Grönholm, whose best result in Spain was second in 2004.
Twenty-five-year-old Hirvonen has fond memories of the rally, having claimed a career-best third place here in 2005. "That result was a big boost to my confidence," he admitted. "I've proved that I have the speed on loose surfaces but to score a podium here made me realise that I could reproduce the same level of speed on asphalt. I've tested the Focus RS on this surface and it's good."
"This is the easiest asphalt event in the championship. It's the fastest and the roads are flowing, although they are narrower here than the roads on which we used to compete near Lloret de Mar. The stages are surprisingly bumpy in places and it's crucial to be precise with driving lines. Some sections are smooth, new asphalt and then you turn onto a really rough part which is quite abrasive.
"As with any asphalt event, there will be a lot of gravel dragged onto the road and it's vital to have that information in my pace notes. I will rely on accurate information from our safety crew who drive the stages before us to check the latest conditions. Just one mistake can be costly because it's harder to regain control on asphalt than on gravel if you make an error," he added.
Team News
* BP-Ford will choose tyres from two different patterns. BFGoodrich's g-Force Profiler rubber is available in soft, medium and hard compounds for dry asphalt while the Profiler Humid pattern for wet roads is accessible in soft and medium compounds. If the rain is heavy, tyre engineers will carve additional cuts into the rubber of the Humid pattern. The grooves can be either longitudinal to combat aquaplaning, or lateral for extra braking and traction.
* The team is tackling a four-day test near Vic this week to finalise car set-up. Grönholm drove on Tuesday and Wednesday completing a total of 385 kms while his young team-mate Hirvonen drove 242kms on a 4.5kms test stage at Alpens yesterday (Thursday) and continues to test today (Friday). They have been working closely with BFGoodrich to find the right tyre package as well as with each other to find the perfect set-up for next weeks' event. Both have been pleased with the positive feeling they have had with the car.
* The privately run Stobart-VK-M-Sport Ford Rally Team has entered two 2004-specification Focus RS WRCs. Britain's Matthew Wilson / Michael Orr and Finns Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila will drive. Irish crew Gareth MacHale / Paul Nagle, who finished sixth on only their second world rally in Mexico earlier this month, and Britons Steve Perez and Steve Harris will drive similar privately-entered cars.
Rally Route
The route shows few changes to last October's edition as organisers have opted for continuity. All the stages are located in the Priorat wine growing area in the Tarragona region, with a single service area at Salou's PortAventura theme park. There are just two tests that did not feature in 2005. One is totally new while the other is an existing test used in the opposite direction. Three other tests incorporate minor changes. After Thursday evening's ceremonial start on Salou seafront, Friday's opening leg is the longest of the rally, including 137.25km of competition. Seven different venues are used for the 16 stages, covering 346.43km, and seven tests are used twice before the Sunday afternoon finish in Salou.
