How is the Madeira Coral Rally Championship going?

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How is the Madeira Coral Rally Championship going?

This year's Madeira Rally Championship broadly kept the same rules as the previous edition and a calendar with seven events between March and November. The season started in Machico and there Miguel Nunes, again teaming up with João Paulo in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, collected maximum points. João Silva, now with Luis Rodrigues also in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, was second but fastest in 3 of the 9 stages. Miguel Caires, always with João M. Sousa in the same car as his rivals, took the lowest place on the podium.

The competition returned to the road in Calheta in mid-April. In the west, Nunes won again, but was unable to pick up maximum points as João Silva, second, also picked up the victory bonus on the last timed section. Miguel Caires joined them on the podium. A turnaround in the championship followed at the beginning of May in São Vicente. In the north, Silva took the lead and Nunes, who was following in his wake, hit a bump and dropped out.

With his first win of the year and a podium shared with Miguel Caires and José Camacho, the driver of the FX Skoda now leads the championship. In the middle of July, the excitement went to Ribeira Brava. Silva got his win of the year but only gained two points on his biggest rival, as Nunes got four of the bonus points for speed in the special test. With these results, João Silva leads the FPAK competition with a 14-point advantage over Miguel Nunes. Miguel Caires is third, having always been on the podium and having also been the fastest in the timed sections on six occasions.

In the competition for users of two-wheel drive vehicles, Vasco Silva has always won, having returned to the competition with Tiago Fernandes in a Renault Clio Rally4, but in Ribeira Brava he was behind the wheel of a Peugeot 208 Rally4. His closest rival has been Rui Jorge Fernandes, with João P. Freitas, also in a Renault, who should have won in the last event but punctured in the final kilometres. Artur Quintal, in a Peugeot 208 Rally4, is third. Ivo Sardinha, navigated by Marco Leça in a Peugeot 208 R2, continues to lead the Eng Rafael Costa Trophy.

Classification: 1st João Silva, 97; 2nd Miguel Nunes, 83; 3rd Miguel Caires, 71; 4th Vasco Silva, 48; 5th José Camacho, 41; 6th Rui Pinto, 40; 7th Rui J. Fernandes, 31; 8th Artur Quintal, 18; 9th Filipe Pires and Vítor Sá, 14; 11th Renato Pita, 10; 12th Cláudio Nóbrega, 9; 13th Filipe Silva and Pedro M. Gomes, 6; 15th Emanuel Martins and Gil Silva, 5; 17th Nuno Ferreira and Nuno Figueira, 4; 19th Ivo Sardinha, Sandro Teixeira, José Jarimba, Jerónimo Silva and João Passos, 3. 48 drivers have qualified.