On Thursday evening Rally de España began in the center of Barcelona. The race was opened by 3,2-kilometers city special stage.

Formally the first special stage was tarmac one. But on the requirements of organizers of the race the crews used gravel settings and gravel tires on this stage. Moreover the main highlight of the opening stage of  Rally de España was the huge rain which made the task to pass the distance fast and spectacularly but accurately it made it much more difficult.

Trying to look for compromise between speed and accuracy Valery Gorban and Vladimir Korsia overcame the first three kilometers of Spanish race with 28th result.

Valery Gorban: «Our crew prefers the gravel stages. So we hope Friday will be our day. But forecasters promise rainy weather. It means the race track will be very slippery. It will make more dangerous the narrow Spanish roads full of stones on the roadsides. It is impermissible to slide on such roads but if they are wet it is very easy to do a mistake…»

On Friday the participants of  Rally de España overcame 116 kilometers of the six tarmac special stages.