The president of the organizing committee of the Rali Vinho Madeira said on Monday that the 64th edition of the competition will be stricter in terms of safety, to avoid accidents such as the one that killed an eight-year-old girl in 2022.
Paulo Fontes assured that the organizing club and race management are “very concerned, because last year’s unfortunate accident stains any organization, even if it did not contribute to it”, but underlined that they should have tried to avoid it and that is what is done in this edition by “predicting all scenarios”.
The accident that killed an eight-year-old girl occurred on August 6, 2022, during the last leg of the race, when the victim crossed the road on foot and was picked up by the car in which Madeiran pilot Miguel Gouveia was driving.
“We are going to identify the areas where we will certainly have more audiences and of course strengthen there, not only with the elements of the Public Security Police, but also with elements of the organization,” said the manager of the Club Sports Madeira, emphasizing that there is ” will be very strict in the closing times of the roads and in the placement of the public”.
The director is confident that the number of assistance on Madeira’s roads will be greater than in previous years, affected by the covid-19 pandemic, emphasizing that “the pedestrian circulation for access to special tests will be closed 20 minutes earlier”: “The rally will be run, but with a time between the first pass to the second to allow people to move around”.
When asked whether there will be an increase in the number of police on the road, the president of the organizing club since 1959 underlined that “it is not so much about reinforcing elements, because the sections are practically the same and people have already been deployed, but rather to reinforcing elements.” the attention regarding the rally on the road and the positioning of people”.
Paulo Fontes guarantees that the importance is not only in strengthening the presence, but also in getting the message across, explaining that a safety campaign will be launched in the coming days for everyone who will be on the road.
According to the leader, the International Automobile Federation had to be asked to increase the maximum number of entries from 75 to 85, due to strong demand in a year that, he says, is “a great forecast for the rally and a recovery of an image of the Rali Vinho da Madeira”, and a few hours before the end of registration, 84 participants have already registered.
The race taking place on the roads of Madeira from August 3 to 5 has so far had eight foreign drivers and 76 Portuguese, 52 from Madeira and one from the Azores.
The biggest names are Kris Meeke, Giandomenico Basso, Simone Campedelli, Diego Ruiloba, José Pedro Fontes, Ricardo Teodósio, Miguel Correia, Armindo Araújo or the Madeiran Bernardo Sousa, Alexandre Camacho, the title winner and now record holder with five titles, and Miguel Nunen.
The Rali Vinho Madeira is part of the FIA Rally Trophy, the Portuguese Rally Championship and the Coral da Madeira Rally Championship, as well as the Iberian Peugeot Rally Cup, contested with the Peugeot 208 Rally4 and bringing 11 teams to the region.
Source: DN
