August 2021

RVM (Day 1)

PE 1 and 5 – CAMPO DE GOLFE This Special Stage begins at ER 207, after the local Golf Court entrance, and includes a small sequence of quite straight lanes up to Santo da Serra. From there, and up to Fonte de Santo António, the route is quite sinuous and narrow. After a very fast evolution to Ribeira de Machico and Portela, which precedes another flat zone until Serragem, in Santo da Serra. Accesses: Via Santo da Serra: at the crossroads with Fonte de Santo António Road, and, by Municipal Road Caramachão and Municipal Road Lombo das Faias.  Via Machico: At the Ribeira de Machico, (Pay attention to the Emergency Exit), and Portela by Caminho Fajã dos Rolos. Via Porto da Cruz: By Municipal Road 108 (Pay attention to the Emergency Exit). PE 2 and 6 – PALHEIRO FERREIRO   The Regional Road (ER 201), usually named as Caminho dos Pretos, is the “Cathedral” of Madeiran Rallies and, in the past, few were the competitions that didn’t include this route. It is driven up between Palheiro Ferreiro and Terreiro da Luta, with an almost perfect combination of a route that mixes fast areas with the ones that demand more technical skills. Accesses: Via Funchal: Through São João Latrão Road, through Nova Curral dos Romeiros Road and in Choupana, through Caminho Meio e Caminho Terço.   PE 3 and 7 – BOAVENTURA   Boaventura was, for many years the only special stage, meaning with a timed section, competed in the north of the Island. For many years, it was also absent from the Rali Vinho da Madeira itinerary. It demands a lot of technical skills going up and down, as well as fast and slow in a route often narrow between Boaventura and Arco de São Jorge. Accesses: Without an alternative route, it is recommended to get there earlier for the stage’s start and finish.   PE 4 and 8 – CITY OF SANTANA    A part of the Rali Vinho da Madeira itinerary 13 years ago, it begins close to the centre of the Ilha Municipality and all the way to the Eiras Road it is driven mostly up, except some very fast and straight lanes. In its route, there are many technical areas with “hooks”. Its race is often featured by the weather conditions different than the rest of the Island. Accesses: Via Santana: Through Queimadas Road, by Padre Agostinho J. Cardoso Road, Joaquim Road (Pay attention to the Emergency Exit) e through Feiteira do Nuno Road.  

Trying a Fourth Victory

Alexandre Camacho starts Rali Vinho da Madeira with the main “goal to try to accomplish, for the fourth time, the competition. We will have very strong opponents, such as Miguel Nunes and Pedro Paixão and there may be a driver from the mainland who wants to fight for the first place on the podium.  The rhythm of the competition in the championship in Madeira has been increasing in each event and I believe this rally will be very competitive and extremely fast, with amazing quality. We had the first kilometres with our current car in Machico and, in that sense, and with the information we have gathered in that race, we have been working in a few aspects that can be improved, as my goal is to have it all perfectly setup.  The 41 years old driver, Alexandre Camacho, had his first steps in the rallies in 2001 with a Toyota Yaris. He drove numerous vehicles and in the last decade was behind the wheel of a Peugeot 207 S2000, Porsche 993 GT3, Peugeot 208 T16, Skoda Fabia R5 and, during last year, Citroën C3 R5. In 2021, he has already driven a Citroën C3 Rally2 and now a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo.  Of his honours, he has six absolute standings in Madeira (2008, 2009, 2015, 2017 and 2019) as well as the FIA European Rally Trophy achievement, in 2018. After a victory in Ribeira Brava and second place in Machico, he is the leader of the Regional Championship.   

Follow RVM on your mobile equipment

Rally fans can follow the evolution of Rali vinho da Madeira 2021 edition through their mobile equipment. The information and results of the competition are available in two mobile apps: IOS and Android. On Rali vinho da Madeira app, the users can check the news, watch footage and pictures of the different special stages, service park, as well as the start and finish podium. The whole information is updated by the minute and it is possible to check the competitors’ performances in the different stages. On the AMAWEB App, the timing of each driver and its absolute standings after each special stage can be checked, also being able to verify the outcome of the Regional, National and European Championships. It is even possible to have access to all statistic and historical data of previous championships. The app has an update for this year: the addition of the official boards. The users who already have the previous version installed, should update it in order to have access to these updates.  Both apps can be downloaded on the official website: www.ralivm.com  

Parishes back up RVM’s safety teams

The RVM safety teams have, this year, the head of parishes where the rally will drive by, to back them up. The main goal is to help spreading important information for the safety of the competition close to the population, especially the elderly people, who live in the countryside.  Priests and Canons have a closer relationship with their parishioners, which makes the spread of information and clarification easier, namely abo the closed roads and the awareness for the fulfilment of safety measures.   

Information

For personal reasons, the Observer nominated by the FIA to accompany the RVM 2021 edition, Jordi Parro (Spanish) was replaced by the Observer Kostyantyn Bevz (Ukrananian) 

Private tryouts are multiplied

From today and until next Wednesday, there will be many private test sessions that will happen around the Island. In these tests the teams try to replicate to the maximum the characteristics of the roads that they will find in the competition itself and, in these circumstances, look for the best possible setup for suspensions, alignments, transmission relations as well as the electronic management of the engines. As these sessions could be considered as training, which is nowadays forbidden by the regulation, the tests are happening in roads that are not used during the Rali Vinho da Madeira. Although last year these tests were under covered, in the last few years these tests have been authorized by the municipalities and controlled by the authorities who guarantee the closed roads and the safety of its users and population.  

Regaining points

Bruno Magalhães almost had another worldwide debut in Madeira, as there was the possibility of his crew to be represented in Rali Vinho Madeira with a Hyundai i20 N Rally2. Such event will happen next week, in Ypres, in WRC and the Portuguese driver will be at the start of the championship organized by Club Sports da Madeira with the usual Hyundai i20 R5 In such circumstances, the driver from Lisbon wants to “try to be the best in the National Championship and regain points. This is a rally that we are usually well, nonetheless, our priority is the Championship. This is also a competition that I like very much, being so, we will see how far we can go.” Magalhães is 41 years old and had his debut in the rallies in 1999 with a VW Golf GTi. Later, he drove a few versions of Mitsubishi Lancer and Ford Escort Cosworth but, in 2003, was behind the wheel of a Peugeot 206 GTi and achieved the single brand trophy in the following year. The success has taken the brand to hire him and, representing the Lion’s logo, drove a Peugeot 206 S1600. In 2007, he won in his debut with a Peugeot 207 S2000 and became a champion that year and until 2009. In 2014, he was in the international competitions more regularly and in 2017, with a Skoda Fabia R5, became the European Vice-Champion. He was back in 2019 in the Portuguese Championship of rallies and was the second twice with a Hyundai. One of the winning record holder in Rali Vinho Madeira is the third in the National Championship.  

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