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World Rally Championship teams worried by dust issues in Spain

The World Rally Championship teams met with Catalunya Rally organisers last night to discuss the potential for dust problems - which have been realised on the first stage this morning

The main concern was centred on the final Friday stage, which will be run in the dark. The organisers of Spain's round of the WRC have permitted the crews to run with a three - instead of two - minute gap between them through the 11 miles of Les Garrigues 2.

Petter Solberg World Rally Team manager Ken Rees said the drivers' concerns were flagged up immediately after the recce.

"The stage is really narrow and difficult in places," said Rees. "And the drivers were worried there could be a problem there. We met [with the organisers] last night and they have given us three-minute gaps, which will help. At the same time, as we saw in Greece a few rallies ago, driving in the thick dust at night is not good and it can cause plenty of problems."

The weather is expected to turn damp in the late afternoon around the Salou area and Rees said the organisers were confident this would ease the situation in the stage which starts at 19:28 local time.

"If the surface is damp, that will help," said Rees, "but there's not much else we can do about it right now. We can't get the organisers to give the drivers any more time between them because that would affect the timings for the parc ferme and things like that in town."

Rees' driver Petter Solberg will not have to worry about that stage now, as he has already retired from the Catalunya Rally after taking a wheel off his Citroen on the opening stage.

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