2006 Rally Catalunya

Infobox Rally
name = 2006 Rally Catalunya
native_name = 42º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada
round = 4
championship = 2006 World Rally Championship
previous_round = 2006 Rally México
next_round = 2006 Tour de Corse


caption = Salou boulevard, host of 2006 Rally Catalunya
rallybase = Salou
startdate = March 24
enddate = 26 2006
stages = 16
stagekm = 359.54
overallkm = 1002.47
surface = Tarmac
driver1 = flagicon|FRA Sébastien Loeb
team1 = flagicon|BEL Kronos Total Citroën WRT
teamsstart = 66
teamsfinish = 56

The 42º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada,the fourth round of the 2006 World Rally Championship season took place between March 24th and March 2006.

Event

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 of the co-driver Jörg Bastuck [cite web | title = Co-driver dies in rally accident | work = bbc.co.uk | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4841358.stm | date = 2006-03-24 | accessdate = 2008-05-31 ] . Eventually the rally saw the second win of the season for the reigning world champion Sébastien Loeb, although the early pacesetter was Ford's Marcus Grönholm. After winning the first three stages, he suffered turbo problems [cite web | title = Loeb snatches lead in Catalunya | work = bbc.co.uk | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4843054.stm | date = 2006-03-24 | accessdate = 2008-05-31] 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 with a fast run that was publicly acknowledged by Loeb [cite web| title = Loeb remains on top in Catalunya | work = bbc.co.uk | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4845194.stm | date = 2006-03-25 | accessdate = 2008-05-31 ] . Further down the field, the twice previous Rally Catalunya winner Gilles Panizzi diasappointed with a tenth place finish. Panizzi promptly left the Red Bull Škoda team [cite web | title = Rovanpera in for Panizzi at Skoda | work = bbc.co.uk | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4858672.stm | date = 2006-03-30 | accessdate = 2008-05-31] and has not competed in a WRC round since.

Results

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Manufacturers' championship

References

External links

* [http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php?type=result&rallyid=424 Results] on [http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php RallyBase.nl]
* [http://www.ewrc-results.com/final.php?event=4 Results] at [http://www.ewrc-results.com/ eWRC.com]
* [http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=405&season=2006&rally_id=E Results] from the official site [http://www.wrc.com/ wrc.com]
* [http://www.juwra.com/catalunya_2006_results.html Results] at [http://www.juwra.com/index.html Jonkka's World Rally Archive]