The recce at Rally Islas Canarias, a brand-new event on the World Rally Championship calendar, was always going to be a challenge with drivers creating fresh pacenotes.
But that challenge has been exaggerated by the roads being open to the public in both directions for recce – a situation Ott Tänak has questioned the safety of.
Crews drove the various stages of the event across Monday – Wednesday this week, but traffic was a complication for drivers who could not take the racing line through corners because of oncoming traffic.
“Obviously during recce it was super difficult to find the racing line with all the traffic and traffic jams, so it’s been challenging so far,” Tänak told DirtFish.
“But now roads get closed [for shakedown], it’s actually quite enjoyable.”
When you are behind somebody and a car is coming towards you it's really difficult. I think everybody had a difficult recce because of this.Kalle Rovanperä
Roads are generally not closed to the public for recce on Tarmac rallies because the stages are taking place on roads that are used everyday.
But it has caused a particular problem in Gran Canaria because of the volume of traffic on, and the twisting nature of, the roads.
DirtFish observed Kalle Rovanperä starting his second pass of recce for the shakedown stage on Tuesday, but stopping near the start after being caught behind a slow-moving car.
He described the recce as “quite difficult” because of the traffic.
“Normally we’d not have so much traffic, but here a lot of tourists and everybody is going around the stages,” Rovanperä told DirtFish.
“On Tarmac especially when you need to see the line, you need to be really precise with the distance of the corner. When you are behind somebody and a car is coming towards you it’s really difficult.
WRC recce cars must deal with public traffic on all events – but the roads are rarely as busy as on Gran Canaria
“I think everybody had a difficult recce because of this. It’s gonna be important to try to make it super precise from the video.”
Elfyn Evans famously lost victory on the 2019 Tour de Corse when he ran through a pot-hole on the powerstage that he hadn’t spotted on recce because he was overtaking a car – highlighting the potential ramifications.
“It was definitely not easy to recce, especially the double width sections with a lot of oncoming traffic, that’s a bit of a nightmare,” the world championship leader told DirtFish.
“So yeah, that’s definitely not going to be easy on these new pacenotes.”
Asked if the road should have been closed for recce, Tänak highlighted his safety concerns.
“For sure it can be done better,” he said.
Missing the smallest detail on recce can have enormous ramifications, as Elfyn Evans discovered on the 2019 Tour de Corse
“I mean safety for all of us – not just the drivers but the normal people – is important, so it’s something we can do better.”
DirtFish has asked the organizer for comment.
Stages are “beautiful” but demanding
While the recce wasn’t the smoothest for everyone, the stages themselves have left a big impression on the drivers.
World champion Thierry Neuville told DirtFish Islas Canarias will be the “cleanest” Tarmac rally he’s done in his WRC career.
“I mean, the change between Rally Kenya and here couldn’t be more extreme than what it is,” Neuville said.
“It’s going to be the cleanest Tarmac rally I have done in my whole WRC career. I mean, even Spain, Catalunya, was more cutting than here. And Kenya probably has been the roughest I will ever experience or have experienced, so the difference couldn’t be any bigger.
“But that’s exactly what WRC makes so special and that’s exactly what we drivers needed after a rough Kenya.”
No cutting, no pollution, no problems: there's been universal hype for the roads on Gran Canaria so far
Rovanperä and Adrien Fourmaux both described the stages as “amazing”, while Sébastien Ogier echoed that enthusiasm – but warned the rally will be demanding.
“I think it’s beautiful, of course. I believe you have heard that from most of the drivers,” Ogier told DirtFish.
“It’s a beautiful piece of Tarmac which stays clean, no cuts, so every element is there to make an exciting race. At the same time, it’s demanding, I believe.
“Driving on the limit on this road is not that easy especially when it’s a first for most of us and yeah, we’ll have to have a very accurate pacenotes and trust it because every little mistake here can be very costly with, let’s say, something hard on the line like a mountain or rocks or barrier.
“I think the unique character of this island is probably the weather changing super quickly and having some starts near the coast where you have 25C and dry and then you come at the end of the stage, it’s 15C less and damp or wet, so that might create a very difficult challenge for us.
“But at the moment, the sun is shining, so it’ll probably stay like this.”
