70th Rally MOTUL Costa Brava

On March 17-20, 2022, the 70th MOTUL Costa Brava Rally was held. The oldest rally in Spain and one of the most prestigious in Europe. It was the test that inaugurated the season of historical rallies at a continental level, scoring for the European, Spanish and Catalan Championships of the speciality, in addition to including the Legend vehicles of special interest; and with a total of 181 registered teams from all over the continent, they participated in a test that breaks participation records.

For this year the organizer, RallyClassics, had prepared a somewhat different itinerary, with 12 sections, 6 different, for a total of 155 timed kilometers. On Friday, March 18, six sections were carried out, divided into two loops of three sections each: Els Àngels, Santa Pellaia and La Ganga. On Saturday, March 19, the last six sections were held, divided into two loops of three sections: Osor, Collsaplana and Cladells, with a regrouping at noon in Santa Coloma de Farners and arriving in Girona from 6:00 p.m.

With the novelties in this year's itinerary and after our absence in the previous edition, we arrived with the desire and illusion of achieving a good performance. And, we are already advancing you, that we achieved it! After rain all night on Thursday, we woke up convinced that we would find plenty of water during the first stages. So it was. Always thinking that it was a long and demanding rally, we pushed hard in these first sections, achieving second position in the Spanish Championship and just over 9 seconds behind Antonio Sainz. Later, however, a poor choice of tires (there was hardly any water and we were still on wet tyres) penalized us excessively in the second runs through els àngels and santa pellaia, until remote assistance prior to the last special on Friday, we corrected our mistake, being able to finish the day in third place.

On the other hand, and although we already imagined it, we verified that the rivals to beat in this test would be Ventura-Autet with his beautiful Ford Sierra Rs Cosworth of the Baporo Motorsport team, Sainz-de la Puente with the Subaru Legacy and the international Pierre- Manuel Jenot-Freddy Delorme with his always spectacular Ford RS 1800.

Once again, Saturday's day would be marked by rain, cold and very slippery asphalt. With these conditions, Aikon-Larrosa only thought about finding and maintaining a competitive but safe rhythm, convinced that it was the formula to keep their rivals at bay. They made it; arriving before the last section of the rally in 1st position. It should be noted, however, that they benefited from a small exit from the Ventura-Autet road (without consequences) where they lost almost 3 minutes by leaving in an area with few public. That mistake would mean dropping them from the battle for victory.

Thus, our team managed the difference with solvency, leaving the second classified more than 2'40”, and demonstrating that they could continue to be fast with the sections in these conditions, reaching Girona as winners: 1st position in the Spanish and Catalan Championships . Congratulations!

Finally, we would like to thank RallyClassics for once again organizing such a special, long, demanding race with so much participation and, especially, thank all the fans for cheering us on. You are awesome!