August 2021

How is the Portuguese Championship of Rallies doing?

This year there have been three National Motorsports Championships, Terras d’Aboboreira, 30th April to 2nd May, Portugal, 20th to 23rd May, and Castelo Branco, 11th to 13th June. The national Champion Armindo Araújo was the second in the debut stage but was the best in the other two, becoming the standing leader. Winner in the first competition of the year, Ricardo Teodósio has been less regular, as he was second and then third and is the driver closer to the leader, with a drawback of 7 points. In the lowest place of the podium is, for now,  Bruno Magalhães, who has three fourth places in three competitions with Hyundai i20 R5. Right behind him is José Pedro Fontes was sixth in both competitions performed in gravel. Nevertheless, he has improved to a third place in Castelo Branco, already in tarmac. As for Bernardo Sousa, he was the fifth in the opening competition and almost the leader of rally that is also for the WRC, however, he ended up late in the last competed rally. Miguel Correia has been showing an evolution, was the third in Terras d’Aboboreira and fifth in Castelo Branco, unfortunately, he withdrew from the most important competition of the calendar. After this competition, are yet to be performed Mortágua, Alto Tâmega, Serras de Fafe e Vidreiro Centro de Portugal rallies Standings: 1st Armindo Araújo, 76; 2nd Ricardo Teodósio, 69; 3rd Bruno Magalhães, 44; 4th José Pedro Fontes, 37; 5th Bernardo Sousa, 36; 6th Miguel Correia, 30; 7th Paulo Neto, 24; 8th Pedro Meireles, 18; 9th Diogo Salvi, 8; 10th Gil Antunes, 7; 11th Manuel Castro, 6; 12th Fernando Teotónio, 5; 13th Daniel Nunes, 2; 14th Alexandrino Dinis, 2; 15th Paulo Barata, 1.  

How is the Rali Coral da Madeira Championship doing?

Due to a postponed start imposed by the pandemics, only two competitions of the Madeira motorsports Championship have been accomplished. The balance between the main drivers has been clear and the competitions have been exciting until their finale, as the leader was only revealed in the last stage of the events.  At the time, behind the wheel of a Citroën C3 Rally2 Evo, Alexandre Camacho was the leader in Ribeira Brava, on the 25th and 26th July, ahead with 1,4 seconds on Miguel Nunes, as he was the leader of Rali do Marítimo, on the 16th and 17th July, by 0,5 seconds. This balance is also in the championship standings, led by Camacho with 2 points as head start from Nunes.  Getting to know Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, Pedro Paixão was racing in defence in his debut competition and lost a lot of time with a tyre puncture just when he started fighting back in Machico. Rui Pinto and Filipe Freitas have been getting similar positions, however, they both withdrew once. That takes José Camacho, stronger with his Peugeot 208 T16, to be next in the fourth position of the competition, followed by Rui Jorge Fernandes, until now unstoppable in his category. With two victories, Américo Gouveia also stands out of RC4 group. After Rali Vinho da Madeira, the rallies missing are Câmara de Lobos/Funchal, Faial – Santana e Calheta. Standings: 1st Alexandre Camacho, 51; 2nd Miguel Nunes, 49; 3rd Pedro Paixão, 32; 4th José Camacho, 22; 5th Rui Jorge Fernandes, 20; 6th Rui Pinto, 17; 7th Filipe Freitas, 14; 8th Dinarte Baptista, 14; 9th Paulo Mendes, 10; 10th Américo Gouveia, 8; 11th João Ferreira, 8; 12th Carlos Silva, 3; 13th Pedro Macedo, 2; 14th Cláudio Nóbrega, 2; 15th Paulo Nunes, Miguel Caires, Ricardo Gonçalves, Miguel Gouveia, Rodrigo Jasmins and Tiago Neves, 1.       

Administrative checks and scrutineering are this afternoon

This afternoon, the Administrative checks and scrutineering will be set for Rali Vinho da Madeira de 2021. The administrative checks will take place at the Praça CR7, between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., while the scrutineering of sealing and marking of components will be held at the Pontão Norte do Porto, in Funchal, starting at 6:15 p.m. and ending at 9:30 p.m. These procedures usually gather a lot of public who see, in theses occasions a great opportunity of a first contact with the competitors and their vehicles, who will race on the Island’s roads in the next few days. As for the rest of the competition’s program, a responsible behaviour and the respect for all sanitary measures should be taken into account.  

Rally has six Posthumous Tributes

Next Thursday, 5th August, by the end of the presentation of the drivers and parade of the vehicles on the podium at Praça do Povo, the motorsport enthusiast photographer Filipe Ferraz, the former co-driver, Duarte Coelho, the Observer of Portuguese Federation of Auto racing and Karting – FPAK, Claudino Romeiro and  Noel Deberdt, Leper Rally Organizer, in Belgium, the dearest Madeiran driver  Janica Clemente and Joaquim Sá e Sousa, who shared a few rallies with Janica, becoming, later on, part of the Organizing Committee of RVM, are the six posthumous tributes, in the public ceremony.   In the descriptive memory of his master piece, the sculptor Ricardo Veloza, sees it as a piece of “an iron wall, with an orifice where a metal tape coated in golden leaf crosses to the other side, representing life, as the golden element represents the passage to the other side. The orifice switches according to the time they lived. Being so, and according to their age, the orifice can be on the top of the iron wall, as those who passed away when they were younger, is below.”  

Repeating the victory

Miguel Nunes has set for Rali Vinho da Madeira “the main goal of achieving the best outcome, hoping that I am able to repeat the 2020 triumph, nevertheless, there is a lot of strong competition. Many teams have the potential to win this competition. In the Madeiran Rallies we can already feel that we are pushing ourselves to the limit and the leading figures of such race will be here. Besides the regional drivers, we should not forget the teams that are visiting us too, as they will try their best. For this rally we have nothing new, just a few setups in the car we already had before. Under the circumstances, it’s hard to do better.” Miguel Nunes is 40 years old and started in the rallies in 2005 with a Citroën C2 R2. In 2007, he drove a Peugeot 206 S1600, which made him the regional vice-champion in 2008. He had the same standings in 2009, with a Peugeot 207 S2000 and with that vehicle he got his first title in 2010. Later he was behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X was once more a champion in 2012 and 2014. He was a few years with less sports activity, almost always driving a Ford Fiesta R5. In 2018, he was back to the Regional rally with a Citroën DS3 R5 and then a  Hyundai i20 R5, a car that he kept in 2019. In 2020, was again champion, this time driving a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. In 2021, he won in Machico and was the second in the debut competition and is second in the championship.  

FIA ERT: how does it work?

FIA European Rally Trophy was born in 2014 and has succeed the European Rally Cup. Nowadays, it is the European Trophy of rallies that is divided in eight geographical regions. It happens in the Alps, with countries such as France, Italy and Switzerland, near the Alps; Balkan, with countries as Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey  and Servia, throughout the Balkans; Baltic, for countries like Latvia, Estonia e Lithuania, through the Baltic; Benelux for Belgium and Luxemburg; Celtic, limited to Ireland and united Kingdom; Central, for central countries as Austria, Checks Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland or Germany;  Iberian for Portugal and Spain and finally Scandinavian for Sweden, Finland and Denmark. In every area there are champions not only according to the absolute standings (ERT1) but also for vehicles with two driving wheels (ERT2) e Junior, for drivers under the age of 26. From all areas, the top ten standings of each category are also set for the finale. It is in that finale that the title for each category is given. In 2021 this finale will take place in the International ADMV, Lausitz Rallye fighting for Germany, between the 4th and 6th November. this finale was staged in 2017 and 18 at the Casinos do Algarve Rally, in Portugal.  

RVM (Day 2)

PE 9 and 13 – CÂMARA DE LOBOS Câmara de Lobos started, a few years ago, Rali Vinho da Madeira and it is competed between Caminho das Fontainhas and  Ribeira Garcia Street. It is divided in two, the first on a rise and the other one coming down. It shifts from some straight lanes to some very technical curves and even a few sequences of “hooks” that allow a better show. It also has forest and agricultural areas with nearby houses. Accesses: Via Câmara de Lobos: Caminho Velho da Igreja, Caminho Francelheira and Caminho Luzirão.   PE 10 and 14 – PONTA DO SOL Ponta do Sol begins in Vale e Cova do Pico road and shifts to very fast areas having, throughout the route, a few hooks until reaching Carvalhal, a traditionally stage show in the neighbourhood roads until the town’s stadium. From there, it goes down in a very steep, rough route until the last few metres of the stream in Madalena do Mar. Accesses: Via Ponta do Sol: by Lombo do Meio Road, by Eng. Ribeiro de Sousa Street and Regional Road 222   PE 11 and 15 – PONTA DO PARGO   This special stage, whose rating is mostly determined by the skills of the drivers, as it is very demanding in the sequence of long hooks and quite close curves in both directions. Its road floor ca be very wet in the areas covered by the shadow of trees and very dry in the open places. As it is quite similar during its whole extension, demands a good progress rhythm. Accesses: Via Ponta do Pargo: town road that leads to Pedregal and Serrado.   PE 12 and 16 – ROSÁRIO   Crosses the island in an imaginary line between São Vicente and Ribeira Brava since Rosário to Serra d’Água, through Encumeada. It demands a lot of driving up to Encumeada and then a great rashness in the vertiginous down. It is one of the special stages that gathers more spectators in the rally. Accesses: Without alternative roads, it is recommended to get there earlier for the stage’s start and finish.    

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