The 42º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada, the fourth round of the

2006 World Rally Championship season The 2006 World Rally Championship was the 34th season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on January 20 with the 74th Monte Carlo Rally where Finland's Marcus Grönholm, in a Ford Focus RS WRC, took the win ahead of France's ...

, took place from March 24 to 26, 2006.

Report

The rally was the first all-tarmac event of the season. The event was marred by an accident in the JWRC category which resulted in the

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

of the co-driver Jörg Bastuck. Eventually the rally saw the second win of the season for the reigning world champion

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He ho ...

, although the early pacesetter was

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Marcus Grönholm Marcus Ulf Johan "Bosse" Grönholm (born February 5, 1968) is a Finland, Finnish former rallying, rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming ...

. After winning the first three stages, he suffered turbo problems on stage five but fought back from tenth place to eventually take third place. Ahead of Grönholm was the first podium for Spain's

Dani Sordo Daniel "Dani" Sordo Castillo (born 2 May 1983) is a Spanish rally driver. He competes in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He achieved his first WRC victory at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland. Career Sordo began in motocross whe ...

with a fast run that was publicly acknowledged by Loeb. Further down the field, the twice previous

Rally Catalunya The Rally Catalunya (formerly: Rallye Catalunya) is a rally competition held in the Catalonia region of Spain, on the World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned an ...

winner

Gilles Panizzi Gilles Panizzi (born 19 September 1965) is a French former rally driver. Panizzi was born in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes. Like many of his fellow rally racing countrymen, Panizzi spent a great deal of his developmental driving years ...

disappointed with a tenth-place finish. Panizzi promptly left the

Red Bull Škoda Team Red Bull Škoda Team is an Austrian private rally team that participated in the World Rally Championship in the season. It was managed by BRR - Baumschlager Rallye & Racing and sponsored by the Red Bull brand. The team participated with four ...

and has not competed in a

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WWRC, a radio station (570 AM) l ...

round since.

Results

Retirements

Xavier Pons Xavier "Xevi" Pons Puigdillers (born 21 January 1980) is a Spanish rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2003 to 2014. Career Pons started his racing career on motorcycles and won the Spanish enduro national championship ...

- accident (SS10) *

Luca Betti Luca Betti (born 22 February 1978) is an Italian rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship between 2000 and 2013. He began rallying in the WRC at the 2000 Rally GB and has entered various rallies since, particularly in the Junior ...

- accident (SS12) * Julien Pressac - engine (SS12) * Barry Clark - withdrawn (SS2) * Aaron Burkart - accident (SS2)

Special stages

All dates and times are

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(

UTC+1 +01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time * West Africa Time * Western European Summer Time **Brit ...

) from 24 to 25 March 2006 and CEST (

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Por ...

) in 26 March 2006.

Championship standings after the event

Drivers' championship

Manufacturers' championship

References

Catalunya Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Catalunya Rally 2006 in Catalan sport Sport in the Province of Tarragona