11th of the Ciutat de Valls Rally

Last Saturday, May 1, the 11th edition of the Ciutat de Valls Rally took place; Scoring event for the Asphalt Rally Championship of Catalonia. The route varied from previous years, as well as the location of the service park (now on the outskirts of Valls, in the Industrial Park) and with departure and arrival at Passeig President Tarradellas. For this edition, a total of 89.83 km of specials had to be completed, contesting 5 different double-pass sections.

The weather on Friday night was not good. It rained heavily throughout the night, so the roads in the area woke up very wet on Saturday. We opted to fit water tires and “soften” our car a bit to try to avoid any scare during the first bars of the test. We finished the first section in 5th position and with doubts about how to tackle the second loop in the morning. And the truth is that we were wrong. We continued with water settings when, surprisingly, the asphalt had almost completely dried, finishing in 6th position, 16 ”behind one of our usual rivals Segú / Gil with his Citroen DS3 R3T and more than 1 'from podium positions.

In the afternoon there were no longer doubts about how we would find the roads, everything would be dry, but we were worried about knowing the pace that those in front would impose. Two very different stages awaited us. The first, “Les Pobles” with only 6.27km, twisty and where small cars might have an advantage. The second however, “Can Ferrer”, was a longer stage, 11.64km but above all much faster, where the skills of each one and the clarity and confidence in the notes would be decisive.

Thus during the course of the afternoon, and despite the fact that there was some loss that favored us, we were overcome by the incredible pace that Aleix Vila and his co-driver Jaume Poch imposed with the small Peugeot 106 S16. We finished the fourth section, and the rally, in. 6th final position. Satisfied with the result but we went home feeling that we could have squeezed a lot more from our BMW M3 E30 Gr.A.

Thanks once again for the work, dedication and enthusiasm of Escudería Costa Daurada in organizing this test year after year. See you in the next edition!