2019 Rally Catalunya
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 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. 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).
| 2019 Rally Catalunya 55. RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Round 13 of 14 in the 2019 World Rally Championship
| |||
| 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) | ||
| 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 WRT 3:07:39.6 | ||
| Power Stage winner | Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | ||
| Support category results | |||
| WRC-2 winner | Eric Camilli Benjamin Veillas Eric Camilli 3:16:26.8 | ||
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.