By David Whitney
Against all odds the XVII Rally Clasico took place between the 11th to 13th March with Puerto Portals as the home base for some 70 cars taking part in the 600 kms rally over 14 stages of beautiful Mallorca. It was a delight to see smiles on the faces of so many visiting the pits and it was down to the great organisation of Antonio Dezcaller, President and his team for literary getting the show on the road!
Sadly, no teams from the UK took part due to travel restrictions but cars from Germany, Switzerland and of course Spain entered in numbers. From what are normal street cars to fully blown Rally cars. There was much to see and hear and the organisers did a superb job creating a safe environment for all. Despite the pits being closed to the public, all fans could still get up close for photos and smell the racing fumes. Some beautiful cars and how the classics look so different to many of to-day’s modern, same shape cars!!! Say no more..Here we had the iconic Bentleys from 1947 and 1948 driven by well dressed Bentley boys in their overalls, the E. Type Jaguars, Spitfire, MGF and Triumph and the original mini that represented those magical cars from England. Not to be outdone the Porsche’s reigned on the day as did BMW’s and a rare Ferrari engined Stratos. The USA corvette and a 1948 GMC truck brought the flavour of the good ole USA to Portals. With the backdrop of Portals, the Yachts and the cars, we could have been in Monaco, but why?? when you have Mallorca and Portals. It was an electrifying experience for all and indeed there was a Loryc electric car taking part. The first car maker of Mallorca and now resurrected with what you could say is a smaller Bentley shaped car and electric, open to all to rent and drive. Must be done, what a great day out…
So, three days of sunshine made for a wonderful experience for all participants through stages from Andratx, Capdella, Pollenca, Lluc, Sa Colobra and Esporles to name but a few. Some roads are closed for fast driving stages but this year the public could not enjoy the many countryside stages due to covid restrictions.
However, we all pray that next year the Rally will once again have a full house of 100 cars, crowds on all stages and that the restaurants and bars will make for a fun, noisy and exciting day out for not only participants but for all visiting and watching the cars taking part.
A tough Rally but an experience for drivers both professional and general. Always an overall winner and the winning team was crowned on Saturday evening. The 1974 Porsche 911 IROC RSR car 54 driven by driver Alemán Florian Feustel and Co-pilot Christina Ettel. Well done to them and all who took part. We await for next year so look out for the Rally 2022.
