The first leg of the RallyRACC-Rally of Espana features 160.36km of competitive action, 84 percent of which will be on loose surfaces. The cars will consequently run with a ‘gravel’ set-up and on MICHELIN Latitude Cross H1 tyres.
The next two days will see a shift to an all-asphalt menu and the mechanics will have 1¼ hours on Friday evening to swap the cars to a sealed-surface configuration at the service park in PortAventura. For the wide, technically-challenging asphalt stages of Legs 1 and 2, the crews will be able to choose between the soft- (‘S’) and hard-compound (‘H’) variant of the MICHELIN Pilot Sport.
As a consequence, the RallyRACC-Rally de Espana will be something of a logistical challenge for MICHELIN whose tyres will equip practically all the four-wheel drive machines entered for the event, which amounts to 50 or so cars.
A fleet of three semi-trailers will travel to Catalonia, carrying 780 Latitude Cross H1s, 900 Pilot Sport Hs and 800 Pilot Sport Ss. Two additional trucks will carry the fitting and stripping equipment for the eight fitters. MICHELIN will have almost 2,500 covers available for the penultimate excursion of the year, plus a total staff of around 15 people.