The first complete stage of the Rally of Andalusia has passed through the province of Seville and has left spectacular images. The Motor.es team has followed the race from La Campana to Fuentes de Andalucía.
Spain is the epicenter of off-track motorsport this weekend. In Catalonia, the RACC Rally is already underway and in the provinces of Seville, Málaga, Huelga and Cádiz, the Andalucía Rally has been held since yesterday. The last appointment of the FIA and FIM World Rally Raid Championship is a spectacle for the senses for the different types of vehicles that compete in this type of event.
In Motor.es we did not want to miss the development of the rally and we have traveled to the Sevillian municipality of La Campana to see the start of stage 1B, the first complete stage after yesterday’s prologue. First the motorcycles, then the quads, cars and ‘Side by Side’ They have been parading in front of our eyes in a continuous trail of vehicles that left behind a visible cloud of dust.
The ‘motards’, drivers and co-drivers put on a great show in the first few meters of special 1B.
The setting chosen for the first contact with the Andalucía Rally was just 300 meters from the start of stage 1Balthough at the same time it was a strategic point because the race went through that same scenario again once ‘motards’, pilots and co-pilots crossed the first 70 kilometers against the clock, bordering the municipality of Lora del Río. Thanks to this, the activity has been continuous.
While the Kevin Benavides -after recovering from a fall that we have seen live-, Lorenzo Santolino, Tosha Schareina and company faced the section between La Campana and Fuentes de Andalucía, the first cars took the exit. Behind us, the motorcycles crossed a large embankment indicated in the ‘roadbook’, with the pertinent acoustic warnings of danger. In front, the 4x4s of Sébastien Loeb, Guerlain Chicherit, Yazeed Al-Rajhi or Nasser Al-Attiyah started their way.
spectacular sound
This peculiar crossroads drew a curious symphony in the environment with the motorcycle engines with their high-pitched tones overlapping with the much harsher sound of the V6 or V8 engines of the 4x4s and with the characteristic roar of the ‘Side by Side’. The air, capricious at times, mixed all the sounds to the point of making it difficult to discern if the next participant to pass our point was on two or four wheels.
That yes, the rain has respected us and although the dust in suspension has been a necessary travel companion, we have been able to see the passing of all the motorcycle and quad riders and the priority riders in the car category before taking the car and move about 15 kilometers to Fuentes de Andalucíato see a good part of the cars again and ‘Side by Side’ at a crossroads near a farmhouse.
double wrong
During our stay at the foot of the section a good number of curious things have happened to us, but without a doubt the protagonist of our efforts has been Joao Dias, Portuguese driver who competes with a T3 with number #317. And we say this because as soon as he left he has taken the wrong path and he had to turn around a few meters from the car with which we had traveled to the rally.
More than an hour later, when we were high on a hillside, Joao Dias has taken one of the curves that gave way to this hill very open and has entered very open in it. Those of us present have had to tell him to adjust to the path that marked the electric poles at the edge of the field so as not to see a scene like the previous one again and, also, to avoid the risk of being run over.
Photos: Fernando Sancho Most Reliable Car Brands