The Rally Princesa de Asturias Ciudad de Oviedo, which takes place from 7th to 9th September, marks the start of the second half of the season of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Iberian Cup, after a break of almost two months. The first four events have already taken place, three of them on gravel and one on tarmac, which have shown that the fight for the title is going to be very tight again, as three drivers all shared the victories.

Of all the single-brand cups that will take part in the 60th edition of this rally, the one organized by Toyota Spain, Toyota Caetano Portugal and MSI is the one that has more teams registered, a total of 14 participants, among which are the main challengers for the final victory.

Sergi Francolí (CSM Automoció) comes in as leader after winning the Serras de Fafe Rally and adding a second and a third place, which shows his regularity and ability to adapt to any type of surface. Bruno Bulacia (CSM Automoció), who has won the highest number of timed stages to date, will be seeking to cut the 8-point gap to his teammate, as will Dani Berdomás (Grupo Breogán), who is the only driver who has repeated his victory this season and who is 9 points behind the leader. 

While the difference between the first classified drivers is minor, the same goes for Ricardo Costa (Macedo & Macedo GTW Racing) and Alberto Monarri (IPPON Motor Vallés), fourth and fifth, respectively, who are separated by only one point, at 11 and 12 points, respectively, from the leader of the cup, which is run with the competitive Toyota GR Yaris RZ Cup. In Asturias they will seek their first victory after having been on the podium on several occasions.

At a greater distance (36 points) is Pedro Lago (Team Caetano Auto), who wants to continue improving and is not giving up his sixth place in the overall classification to his fellow countryman Miguel Campos (Macedo & Macedo GTW Racing). Javi Villa (Asturhíbrido) will run as a local driver in what will be his second rally with tarmac stages. However, this surface will be very familiar to him, given his experience in the Spanish Hillclimb Championship, where he has been at the top nine times.

The list of registered drivers is closed by Albert Llovera (Grupo La Grajera), José Carlos Mulero (Labasa), Pierre Lafay (CHL Sportauto), Emmanuel Gascou (Macedo & Macedo GTW Racing), Joan Sabater (CSM Automoció) and Antonio Sainz, a regular driver in historic car rallies and brother of two-time world champion Carlos Sainz, who won both titles with Toyota in the 90s. Within the Kobe Motor structure, Antonio Sainz replaces Isaac Vera. 

The Rally Princesa de Asturias consists of two stages and will start on Thursday, September 7th with the ceremonial start in Oviedo. On Friday the 8th, 8 stages on gravel (90 timed kilometers on gravel) will be run, which will give way to one of the most exciting moments of the year, where the teams will have to change the entire configuration of the Toyota GR Yaris RZ Cup in the last assistance, to adapt it to the 7 stages on tarmac (89.94 timed kilometers on gravel) that will be run on Saturday the 9th. 

Added to the difficulty of the mixed surface of this rally- to mark its 60th anniversary – will be the changeable weather conditions that are expected during the weekend. Undoubtedly, this event, part of the Spanish Rally Superchampionship (SCER), will be a great show for a crowd of spectators who are expected to attend the stages en masse.

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