Madeirenses on the lead

The trio occupying the first three positions of the general standing are also those who control the development of the action,in terms of the insular championship. Miguel Nunes has a 9 seconds advantage over Pedro Paixão, who, on his turn, holds an advantage of 1.2 seconds over Alexandre Camacho. If the leader holds a somewhat comfortable leading margin, the story changes slightly between the second and third positioned, who are anticipating an intense fight on the eight Special Stages that compose the route in the second Leg. João Silva is fourth, but is already behind the leader by 23.1 seconds. Even further behind is Filipe Freitas, who, in a Porsche 991 GT3, is eleventh in the general standings and the fifth fastest  so far, amongst local drivers. Gil Freitas, another driver with a Porsche, is 14.5 seconds behind, even though he managed,at a point during the first kilometers, to be ahead his direct adversary in the RGT group. Seventh amongst drivers in the Madeira Rally Coral Championship is Filipe Pires, who, on his turn, faces no competition in the RC2N group.   Immediately following are Vítor Sá and Rui Jorge Fernandes, who have performed quite strongly and fought intensely for a triumph in the RC3 group, in which, however, the experienced Citroën DS3 R3T driver has revealed some power. André Silva dominates the situation in the RC4 group, the same with Bruno Coelho regarding the single-brand competition amongst the small Toyota Yaris.

Miguel Nunes leads the first Leg of the Rally Vinho da Madeira

Miguel Nunes took over the leadership of the Rally Vinho da Madeira right on the first Special Stage of the day and has not, since then, lost it. The Skoda Fabia R5 Evo won all Special Stages of the first section and, even though he lost ground to some of his opponents, at the beginning of the second round, around the four routes raced twice, he finished the day recovering some of his earlier advantage. His advantage now sums up to 9 seconds, which leaves it all open to be disputed on the competition's second day.   Who has also raced most of the time steady in second place was Pedro Paixão, who took over that position during his first passage by Palheiro Ferreiro, and managed to grab on to it with a victory, plus four second places in the standings, amongst other very good results. At the lowest place on the podium is Alexandre Camacho, who, in the first few kilometers revealed his lack of familiarity with the vehicle he is now driving, even if he managed to redeem himself during the second section, also after having some adjustments made to his Citroën C3 R5.  Bruno Magalhães, fourth place, has shown himself to be the fastest in terms of the Portuguese Rally Championship, and even became first during his second passage by the Golf Court, breaking that which was Nunes' hegemony on the scale of the fastest in Special Stages. José Maria Lopez is fifth, after a Leg in which he complained of lacking knowledge of the terrain and of some imprecisions with his guidance notes in such fast Special Stages, which demand an outstanding set-up of their vehicles.   In sixth place is João Silva, who, inactive for a year, revealed some lack in rhythm, and has also taken some time to adapt to the Skoda Fabia R5 Evo driving mode, a very different car from that which he had been using for the past few years. Between seventh and tenth places are some of the usual exciting characters of the National Rally Championship, with José Pedro Fontes and Armindo Araújo neck to neck on their fight for the seventh position, while Ricardo Teodósio and Pedro Meireles were trying to escape being placed last on the top ten of the absolute standings.

Rui J. Fernandes further behind in the classes competition

  Done with the third quarter of Day 1, Vítor Sá increased his advantage amongst drivers of front wheel drive cars, since he was the fastest by almost 5 seconds over his main opponent, Rui Jorge Fernandes, in a Renault Clio R3T. Pedro Almeida, in a Peugeot 208 Rally 4 is still ahead in the group RC4, a group in which the fastest on vehicles with an atmospheric engine is still André Silva. These group's positions have also been kept unchanged after this round, since Miguel Caires, João Ferreira and Adruzilo Lopes are still positioned in the immediately following places. Bruno Coelho is still untouched in the single-brand competition, raced on a Toyota Yaris.

Nunes maintains his leadership, but there is excitement ahead

Done with the first two Special Stages of the second section, Miguel Nunes keeps his leadership in this Rally Vinho da Madeira, but there is some excitement expected for the run to the final podium. Even though there has been no alterations in the standings, Bruno Magalhães won the Special Stage 5, the second passage by the Golf Court, and Pedro Paixão was the best at the Special Stage 6, Palheiro Ferreiro 2. At a time in which competitors are refueling in Funchal, Nunes is holding on to the first position with an advantage of 8.7 seconds ahead of Pedro Paixão, and 11.5 seconds ahead of Alexandre Camacho. Bruno Magalhães, after accounting for these two Special Stages, ended up losing time in the adding up to the podium, and is trailed, from quite close, by the Spaniard "Pepe" Lopez. João Silva is still getting close to the top five, more and more in line with his Skoda Fabia R5 Evo. The other immediate five positions have also been kept unchanged, since they are still occupied by José Pedro Freitas, Armindo Araújo, Ricardo Teodósio, Pedro Meireles and Filipe Freitas.

Service Park B

Bruno Magalhães: "The Rally is going well. The first Special Stages were hard, since the pavement was slippery and we faced some difficulties in certain parts that were wet"

Vítor Sá ahead in the classes competition

Former winner of the Rally Vinho da Madeira, Vítor Sá, with a Citroën DS3 R3T, went down to the 16. th position in absolute terms, but still keeps the lead amongst the drivers racing in front wheel driving cars. He is followed in second place by Rui Jorge Fernandes, in a Renault Clio R3T, now 7.6 seconds behind the leader. A little further away, Pedro Almeida comes third in this "category", but is still, nonetheless, the best in the RC4 group in a Peugeot Rally4. André Silva regained a lot of ground and is, with his Peugeot 208 R2, the fastest amongst those driving RC4 atmospheric vehicles. Right behind is Miguel Caires in a Ford Fiesta R2T of the group RC4A. João Ferreira continues to do a good race with his Citroën C2 R2, but is quite closely followed by Adruzilo Lopes, in a more recent Peugeot 208 R2. Pedro Coelho is the best amongst the  Classics, with a Ford Escort MK II and Bruno Coelho holds a lead of almost a full minute over his competitors in the Yaris NP Cup.

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