• The 72 Rally Motul Costa Brava celebrated on Friday the first of the two stages of the competition, with everything yet to be disputed in the different categories. 
• Huge crowds already since the start on Girona’s podium, in the service park in Fornells de la Selva and in the stages invaded by the best historic racing in Europe. 
• The rally began with a moving homage to Josep Maria Molas, a Regularity driver, who sadly passed away on the eve of the first stage. 

The 72 Rally Motul Costa Brava is already underway. The seventy-second edition of the legendary rally completed this Friday the first of the two stages of the competition. With more than 240 historic rally vehicles in action, the event ends Saturday’s night on the podium in Girona. Everything is yet to be decided in the different categories of Sporting, Regularity Sport and Regularity. This is the inaugural event of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship and the Spanish Championships (Sporting and Regularity) for historic vehicles.

The event started on Friday morning with a moving homage to Josep Maria Molas, who sadly passed away on the eve of the first stage, due to natural causes. Molas was scheduled to participate with a Volkswagen Golf GTI together with Antonio Caldeira. His friends, colleagues, and fans honored him with a noisy round of applause on the podium.

The changing weather was the general theme of the first stage with the presence of rain both at the beginning and at the end of the day, although at noon the teams enjoyed a few hours of spring-like weather. This variability was a challenge for the participants.

Apart from an effusive start from the podium, the best historic European motor racing also brought a lot of spectators to the stages and to the Fornells de la Selva Service park. This is one of the key scenarios of the 72 Rally Motul Costa Brava, where the public was also able to see the drivers, vehicles and the teams.

The Friday stage consisted of two loops through the most famous stages of Les Gavarres and the Costa Brava: Els Àngels, Santa Pellaia curt and Salions-Sant Grau curt, with a total of 73.7 km chrono. On Saturday, the second stage consists of two loops in the stages of Osor, Collsaplana and Cladells, legendary roads of Les Guilleries, with 86.3 km (160 km in total).

The second stage will be the last opportunity to enjoy the spectacular variety of historic rally cars of the 72 Rally Motul Costa Brava and, mostly of the numerous participating units of Audi Quattro. The Quattro is the main star of this seventy-second edition, given its 40th celebration of the victory of Michele Cinotto and Emilio Radaelli in the 1984 Rally Costa Brava. Both are in Girona driving an Audi Quattro A2 replica.

The Lancia Stratos is another legendary car with strong importance on this edition, in the 50th anniversary of its first world’s manufacturers title in 1974.

The first team is scheduled to arrive to Girona’s podium on Saturday at 6 pm. Right there, from 9.30 pm, the 72 Rally Motul Costa Brava prize-giving ceremony will be presented.