Rali Vinho Madeira

Fighting for victory

José Pedro Fontes is bringing a Citroën C3 Rally2 to Rali Vinho da Madeira, equipped with the latest developments available for the model. The driver intends, ‘once again, to fight for outright victory in the rally. However, I think this edition will be one of the toughest in recent years. As well as the local drivers, who are always favourites, we'll have several drivers from the Portuguese Rally Championship as well as foreigners with experience of the route. I always come to Madeira with great motivation because, it's no secret, this is my favourite rally on asphalt.’ The boss of the Sports & You team is 48 years old and has been involved in almost every discipline of motorsport. He made his rallying debut in 1997 with a Seat Ibiza GTi. He has represented brands such as Fiat and Renault and has defended Citroën since 2015. He was national champion in 2015 and 2016 at the wheel of a Citroën DS3 R5. Last year he also won the FIA Iberian Rally Trophy and, for the only time, Rali Vinho da Madeira.

Rally's special stages: SS 4/7 – Santana

The only stage of Rali Vinho da Madeira to be held exclusively in the north of the island, it starts on the ER 219, at the beginning of the road that leads to the parish of Ilha, and finishes at Est. Eiras. It is practically always uphill, with the exception of some flat and very fast areas. There are some very technical areas on the route where there are some ‘hooks’. The race is often marked by different weather conditions from the rest of the island. Access: From Santana: via Cam. Queimadas, Est. Padre Agostinho J. Cardoso, Rua Joaquim S. Branco (Warning: Emergency Exit) and Cam. Feiteira do Nuno.

Best previous rating

Simone Campedelli returns, now in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, for the third time in a row to Rali Vinho da Madeira. Something ‘we really like. We're very happy to be returning for the third year and that we already know the roads. The objectives are to have fun and honour our presence on the island. We know that there are very strong drivers like Meeke, Camacho, Nunes, Araújo and Ruiloba and it will certainly never be easy. However, we're clearly going to push the pace because we want to improve on our ranking from previous years. We'll see if we can do it. There's no particular tactic, just accelerate from the first metre to the last’. The Italian turned 38 last Friday 26 July and has been rallying since 2004, when he made his debut in a Citroën Saxo. He then used both a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX and a Citroën DS3 R3T for many years. Since 2015 he has been behind the wheel of the RC2s. He won the Italian dirt trophy in 2007, the Italian junior championship in 2011, the two-wheel drive championship in 2012, the asphalt promotion in 2017 and won the transalpine asphalt championship in both 2022 and 2023.

Rally's Special Stages: SS 3/6 – Palheiro Ferreiro

At 22.06 kilometres, it's the longest special stage of the rally. The ER 201, aka Caminho dos Pretos, is the ‘cathedral’ of Madeiran rallies and in the past there were few races that didn't include it in their itinerary. It runs ‘uphill’ between Palheiro Ferreiro and Terreiro da Luta with a route that almost perfectly mixes fast areas with those that require a lot of technique. After Terreiro da Luta, there's the climb up to the South Gate of Chão da Lagoa, through the Funchal Ecological Park and the fast descent from the North Gate of Chão da Lagoa to Poiso. This year, it then turns onto the ER 108 and descends, in the direction of Ribeiro Frio, to Chão das Feiteiras. Access: From Funchal: via Cam. São João Latrão, via Rua Nova Curral dos Romeiros and in Choupana, via Cam. Meio and Cam. Terço, and Terreiro da Luta (Warning: Emergency Exit) via ER 103. From Camacha, Poiso (Warning: Emergency Exit) via ER 203 and the South Gate of Chão da Lagoa via ER 203 and ER 103.

Rally Talks at the Plaza - ‘New Rally Generation’

Tomorrow's Rally Talks at the Plaza will feature a meeting of generations, father and son, both linked to motorsport: veteran driver Vasco Silva and the young driver of the same name Vasco Silva. Moderating this interesting conversation will be Duarte Lagos, one of the people responsible for relations with the RVM 2024 competitors. This initiative will once again take place on the 2nd floor of Plaza Madeira, at 12 pm. We're counting on you.

Rally's Special Stages: SS 2/5 – Campo de Golfe

This special race starts on the ER 207, after the entrance to the local golf course, and includes a short sequence of straights as far as Santo da Serra. From there to Fonte de Santo António, the route is quite winding and narrow. This is followed by a very fast progression along the Ribeira de Machico to the ‘snail’ of Portela. The timed section continues on a flat and very chained area until Santo da Serra. Access: From Santo da Serra: at the junction with Est. Fonte de Santo António, via EM Caramanchão at Lombo das Faias or Ribeira de Machico. From Machico: At Ribeira de Machico (Warning: Emergency Exit), Portela via Cam. Fajã dos Rolos. From Porto da Cruz: via ER 108 at Portela (Warning: Emergency Exit).

Road changes in the city of Funchal for the days of Rali Vinho da Madeira 2024

The Deputy Mayor of Funchal, Bruno Pereira, presented yesterday at a press conference the road changes that will be made in the city during Rali Vinho da Madeira. From Monday 29th July, road traffic will be interrupted between 9 p.m. and 11.30 p.m. on Avenida do Mar, so that the teams taking part in the RVM can carry out their reconnaissance. On Thursday 1st August, due to the 1st SS on Avenida do Mar, traffic will be stopped on several streets from 2p.m, reopening at 10:30 p.m. On the remaining days, there will be restrictions in the area of the Service Park and the Closed Park and road closures in the Palheiro Ferreiro Qualifying Stages, in the area of Caminho dos Pretos, Terreiro da Luta, Palheiro Ferreiro and Chão da Lagoa. On Saturday 3rd August, Avenida do Mar Sul and Avenida das Comunidades Madeirenses will be closed to traffic and parking will be prohibited in the southern traffic lanes of the Avenida between 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. On these days, quota 40 may be used as an alternative, all of which is operating normally. Bruno Pereira asks the public to attend the race safely, and also to respect the organisation's guidelines and the PSP's instructions. The Deputy Mayor also appeals for people to avoid parking illegally, as this can create problems in terms of safety.

RVM doctors and nurses in training at Funchal Fire Brigade

The team of doctors and nurses who will be accompanying the Madeira Wine Rally were in training this morning at the Funchal Fire Brigade. Rui Gomes, the RVM's Chief Nurse, explained how the training was organised, which served to recycle various techniques so that there would be uniformity in the procedures for approaching help. The team of 30: 16 nurses and 14 doctors, covered topics such as ‘the kinetics of the accident, types of collision, extraction techniques, victim analysis’, among others. After a theoretical component, the professionals practised the various techniques with practical demonstrations.

A very challenging rally

Kris Meeke arrives in Madeira with the Hyundai i20N Rally2 with which he leads the Portuguese Rally Championship. ‘We're looking forward to returning to Madeira, a beautiful place with very nice people. However, the rally will be very tough as the competition will be very strong, not only with the Portuguese championship drivers, who have been there many times, but also the local drivers, Alexandre Camacho and Miguel Nunes. My rally last year was short. I hit the wall coming out of a corner right at the start of the rally. So the main objective is to finish and collect as many points as possible for the CPR, knowing that it will be very challenging to fight with the locals. We always like challenges. It'll be fun to see Camacho with the new Toyota’. Brit Meeke turned 45 years old about three weeks ago and made his rallying debut in 2000 with a Peugeot 106 GTi. A driver ‘sponsored’ by Colin McRae, he drove S1600 cars between 2003 and 2006 in the JWRC. He returned to the international spotlight in 2009 with Peugeot and took the 207 S2000 to the IRC title. Between 2015 and 2019 he was in the WRC representing Citroën and Toyota, winning four rallies. Since last year he has been working for Hyundai Portugal. This is his fourth participation in Rali Vinho da Madeira.

Rally's Special Stages: SS 1 - Funchal City

Cidade do Funchal is the new name for the traditional Avenida do Mar super-special, a special race that brings a lot of excitement and animation to the city centre, which has hosted the event organised by Club Sports a Madeira since 1959. It's a classification designed for display, with some roundabouts, 90º bends and several chicanes to reduce the speed of the competitors. Access: The entire centre of Funchal.

Leading the Rally4

Vasco Silva is taking part in the Rali Vinho da Madeira with the usual Renault Clio Rally4 and he wants to ‘try to be at the front of that class. That's our goal, but we'll have to see how strong the competition is from outside the island and how the car behaves, as we'll be using all the upgrades available for the model we're driving in this event. We're in a very good position in the championship and that's the result of all the excellent work carried out by the team. Our results have been above expectations. In this rally, the tactic is to see what the new evolution of the engine is like, as well as to check some of the changes we've made to the car's set-up based on our recent experience with the Peugeot.’ Vasco Silva, son of the driver of the same name, is 32 years old and made his rallying debut in 2015 with a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9. That very year he won his first title, among those driving VSH. Between 2016 and 2018 he was at the controls of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, with which he was group champion in the model's last year of use. He returned to the sport in 2024 and is the clear leader in the two-wheel drive competition.

Rally Talks at the Plaza - ‘Behind the Scenes of the Rally’

After listening to the women talk about rallies and the challenges of reconciling the life of a navigator with family and professional life, today it's time to get to know ‘Behind the Scenes of the Rally’. At Plaza Madeira we'll be joined by Paulo Rodrigues, RVM's Safety Officer, and Duarte Lagos, one of the people responsible for relations with the competitors. Together they'll unveil the backstage of a rally as demanding in organisational terms as Rali Vinho da Madeira. Felisberto Nóbrega, from Streamadeira, who is also used to the backstage of motorsport events, will lead the conversation.

Material handed out to the RVM teams

Drivers, co-drivers and representatives of the teams entered for the 2024 edition of the RVM have been passing through the rally's Operations Centre since early this morning to collect all the materials provided for in the race regulations. Plates with the number assigned in the entry list, stickers with the regulatory advertising, RVM badges and merchandising created for RVM 2024 are being delivered. This operation will run until 6 pm.

Making the most of it

Joachim Wagemans returns to the Rali Vinho da Madeira with goals that are ‘difficult to define because, apart from last weekend, I haven't touched a rally car in the last five years. The race went well and I think the speed remains the same. As for opponents, the general level in Madeira is very high. And in GT too. It's hard to say what our times will be. It's not set yet, but we'll have a good tactic for the rally. I have a big challenge ahead of me because I have to make new notes of the whole race. I want to finish but also attack... There are still a lot of questions at the moment. The Alpine is a very interesting car and I think it will be perfect on the island's roads. The car has a lot of new things for me. This should be my only race this year and I should make the most of it. The Belgian driver is 29 years old and took part in his first rally in 2012 with a Ford Fiesta R2. He kept that car until 2014 and from 2015 to 2018 he was behind the wheel of a Peugeot 208 R2, the model that made its debut in Madeira in 2017. In 2019 he took part in five rallies, including the Rali Vinho da Madeira, with a Peugeot 208 T16 R5 and a Skoda Fabia R5, as a prize for winning TER2 the previous year.

Message from the Regional Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Culture for Rali Vinho da Madeira

The Regional Government, through the Regional Secretariat for Economy, Tourism and Culture, continues to support the Madeira Sports Club for ‘Rali Vinho da Madeira’, which this year is the 65th edition. The Autonomous Region of Madeira stands out as a unique tourist destination, internationally recognised. And in this context, high-profile events, such as this motor racing event with over six decades of history, are fundamental to consolidating the positioning of the archipelago, increasing its notoriety abroad and diversifying the tourist offer aimed at different segments of the public. Each edition of the rally allows locals from Madeira and Porto Santo to relive their passion for this competition, contributes to the passion for this competition, as well as boosting the local economy throughout the island, resulting in a significant economic impact on the region. Therefore, recognising the importance of the rally for Madeira, the Regional Government would like to express its gratitude to Club Sports da Madeira. The commitment and dedication of its management and team, who organize and run the event every year with remarkable skill and determination, are worthy of praise and recognition. We hope that the 2024 edition of the rally lives up to everyone's expectations and that it takes place safely, contributing to its success, which will also be for the Autonomous Region of Madeira. Eduardo Jesus Regional Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Culture

Search form

Pages