Lorraine Williamson
A planned street-racing gathering in La Rioja ended with 120 people identified, and 25 sanction files opened after the Guardia Civil broke up a large vehicle meet that officers say was organised online and intended for illegal races on public roads. The operation also led to one file for carrying a prohibited weapon and two for driving with drugs in the system.
According to the Guardia Civil, specialists monitoring the internet spotted a call circulating on social media and messaging apps inviting young motor enthusiasts to a “quedada” that would turn industrial estates in La Rioja into improvised race circuits. The post also advertised the attendance of an “influencer”, apparently to boost the visibility of the event and its planned “lanzadas”, or acceleration races.
Initial enquiries placed the first meeting point in the car park of a shopping centre in Logroño, after which officers set up preventive surveillance and control measures in several industrial zones across the region. The force said a large number of vehicles arrived there, and some participants were seen carrying out tyre-burning, harsh acceleration and drifting-style display manoeuvres that created risks for both spectators and other road users.
From Logroño to Agoncillo and Navarrete
The Guardia Civil said the convoy later moved as a group to the El Sequero industrial estate in Agoncillo, where officers intervened in a coordinated operation to disperse it. Some participants then travelled on to another industrial area in Navarrete, where officers detected illegal races and dangerous manoeuvres known among drivers as “drifting” and “donuts”.
In one especially risky moment, officers said they saw a passenger hanging part of their body outside a moving vehicle without any restraint, creating an obvious danger of falling onto the road. The Guardia Civil says it is still analysing images gathered during the operation to identify and investigate drivers who may have committed serious road-safety offences or criminal acts.
Drivers came from several regions
The force said participants had travelled from Aragón, Navarra, Castilla y León, Cantabria, Madrid and La Rioja, which underlines how these gatherings can spread far beyond one local area once they are promoted online. The operation involved the Guardia Civil’s Traffic Investigation and Analysis Group (GIAT), information units, public-security patrols and traffic units from both La Rioja and Navarra.
The case also shows how policing around illegal motoring events is increasingly moving upstream, with officers tracking online mobilisation before public roads are turned into dangerous, makeshift circuits. In this case, the meet was stopped before the night escalated further, but the investigation has not ended yet.