· Extraordinary fight with Miró-Matavacas and Deflandre-Lienne (Porsche)
· Nubiola-Guardia (Honda / Yamaha) achieve victory in motorcycles 
· Victory of Ardite-Sererols (BMW) in ECOseries
· Palamós, magnificent venue center

The beautiful ending ceremony of the XIV Rally of the Costa Brava Històric in the Passeig del Mar of Palamós has coincided with the Catalan celebration of Sant Jordi. It has been the conclusion for a sporting event which has been a great organizational success for RallyClassics. On the other hand, the rally has also shown the Costa Brava areas where the event has passed through. Specially, Palamós, an incredible scenery of the 2nd test of the European FIA Historic Sporting Rally Championship.

After an extraordinary three-way battle, Carles Fortuny-Carles Jiménez (Lancia Beta Coupé) team have written their names down the winners list of the Rally Costa Brava Històric. In their meritorious performance they have had to fight hard with two other teams that have also demonstrated excellent quality: Carles Miró-Ivan Matavacas (Porsche 911 SC) and Belgians Yves Deflandre-Patrick Lienne (Porsche 911 Carrera RS). The three winners of the Rally Costa Brava Històric have carried out an impressive know-how lesson.

Carles Fortuny and Carles Jiménez (Lancia Beta Coupé)

The first stage already showed the leadership of Fortuny-Jiménez. Although Palamós slalom was dominated by Deflandre-Lienne and the second stage was for Vidal-Robledillo (Autobianchi), from the third stage until the end of the rally Fortuny-Jiménez imposed their rhythm. The remaining provisional seats in the top five were for Deflandre-Lienne, Miró-Matavacas, José Luis Marcó-Mónica Pérez-Zorrilla (Porsche 911 T) and Juan Luis Redó-Toni Moragas (Volvo Amazon), all of them well-known specialists in the matter.

The second day, with 12 stage hours ahead, started with the remarkable performance of Miró-Matavacas, López-Ferres and the Greeks Kontaratos-Moustakas, but with Fortuny-Jiménez controlling the situation permanently. The latest reached the neutralization of Viladrau with 3,6 points over Deflandre-Lienne and 7,8 over Miró-Matavacas.

Such a tight classification demands incredible concentration. On the way to Puigcerdà, the fight continued with three teams with the best records, including Renú-Bergel, Faixedas-Jordan and Carbonell-Riera, all of them, along with Lopez-Ferrés. Already in second position, Miró-Matavacas started pushing hard by topping the following four scores, one of them tied with Fortuny-Jiménez, arriving at 2.2 points ahead of their rivals. Nevertheless, in the penultimate stage (Sant Pere) a very slight problem made them lose the momentum to battle for the victory. These last two stages were won by one of the teams that went the extra mile, Barrabés-Julià (VW), who did not make it to the top then for just one point and a half.

At the prize giving ceremony held at Passeig del Mar in Palamós, the winners were awarded with two exclusive Porsche Design Eyewear Spain sunglasses. Aitor Ibarguren, representing the brand, delivered the Heritage P’8478 and P’8678 models to the winners.

Great victory in motorcycles for Oriol Nubiola-Ignasi Guardia (Honda Dominator), after a hard hand in hand with Susanna Permanyer-Pili Jiménez (Honda Dominator), authors of an incredible performance. In ECOseries (the test was the 1st of its championship), the win went to Xevi Ardite-Elsa Sererols (BMW 218D Active Tourer).

Ignasi Guardia (Yamaha)

The XIV Rally Costa Brava Històric has a route of 942.9 km divided into two stages, with 445.4 km of regularity distributed in 29 sections of controlled regularity. The first day (Friday 21) the neutralization was located in Banyoles and the second day (Saturday 22) in Viladrau and Puigcerdà. The hub of the XIV Rally Costa Brava Històric has been based in Palamós and the headquarters of the organization during the four days have been located at the Hotel Trias, just in front of the podium and the Parc Fermé in Passeig del Mar.

In addition to Palamós-Costa Brava, the main sponsors of the XIV Rally Costa Brava Històric have been Fecotur (Association for the Business Foment of Commerce and Tourism of Palamós), Port Esportiu Marina Palamós and Brugarol. Moritz has continued with the collaboration initiated with RallyClassics in the Rally Moritz Costa Brava and has been the official beer of the event.

Final Classification of the XIV Rally Costa Brava Històric
1-Carles Fortuny-Carles Jiménez (Lancia Beta Coupé), 127 points
2-Carles Miró-Ivan Matavacas (Porsche 911 SC), 133,7 points
3-Yves Deflandre-Patrick Lienne (Porsche 911 Carrera RS), 141,3 points
4-José Manuel López-Ramon Ferres (Volkswagen Scirocco), 155,3 points
5-Juan Luis Redó-Toni Moragas (Volvo Amazon), 161,9 points
6-Carlos Berisso-Guillermo Berisso (Autobianchi A-112 Abarth), 163,2 points
7-Jordi Renú-Núria Bergel (BMW 325i), 169,1 points
8-Christian Crucifix-Joseph Lambert (Porsche 911, 1º FIA), 174 points
9-Raymond Horgnies-Christophe Hayez (Porsche 911), 175,2 points
10-José Luis Marcó-Mónica Pérez-Zorrilla (Porsche 911 T), 181 points
11-Jordi Barrabés-Oriol Julià (Volkswagen Golf GTI), 182,5 points
12-Xavier Tibau-Jordi Martí (Porsche 911), 189,8 points
13-Alex Rimbau-Kim Vilatarsana (Seat 127), 195,4 points
14-Tommy Castañer-Adrián Voican (Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2000), 196,7 points
15-Víctor Sagi-Víctor Sagi (Porsche 911), 199,5 points
Etc. up to 77 finisher teams

Motorcycles
1-Oriol Nubiola-Ignasi Guardia (Honda Dominator/Yamaha Ténéré), 524,1 points
2-Susanna Permanyer-Pili Jiménez (Honda Dominator), 579,5 points
3-Raimon Grifols-Davi Grifols (BMW R100GS), 1.100,8 points
4-Josep Chaume-Mario Montoro (Yamaha XT 600 Ténéré), 1.549,5 points
5-Francesc Costa-Miquel Pumarola (Honda XL 600 LM), 3.189,9 points
6-Marc Matavaques-Oscar Pérez (Vespa 200 DN), 4.211,1 points
7-Santi Ruiz-Josep Itchart (Montesa Impala), 15.179,1 points
8-Esteve Palau-Josep Maria Alujas (Montesa Impala), 15.581,7 points
9-Marc Jené-Lluís Mulero (Montesa Impala 2), 15.751,3 points
10-Joan Lluís Alvarez-Carlos Masllorens (Royal Enfield 500), 18.103,6 points

ECOseries
1-Xevi Ardite-Elsa Sererols (BMW 218D Active Tourer), 556,1 points
2-Jordi Costa-Miquel Costa (Seat Altea XL GLP), 1.572 points
3-Adrià Masferrer-Albert Garcia (Mercedes Clase A 200 CDI), 1.822 points
4-Enric Vinaixa-Gerard Vinaixa (Toyota RAV4 Hybrid), 2.211 points
5-Joan Aymerich-Gerard Aymerich (Nissan Leaf), 8.143,1 points

Source: JAS

Photography: Jaime Palau-Ribes, Ramon Puig y JAS Info Service