The Rali Vinho da Madeira is a tarmac
rally held in
Madeira Island, Portugal, and it is the biggest annual sporting event of the island,
bringing thousands of people into the roads to watch the drivers compete through the hilly terrain and the natural landscapes. Its first edition was in 1959, having later entered the
European Rally Championship in 1979, and remained in its calendar until 2012. It has also been part of the
Intercontinental Rally Challenge
The Intercontinental Rally Challenge was an Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-sanctioned rallying series organised by SRW Events and Eurosport, Eurosport Events, and aimed to "give new opportunities to young or amateur rally drivers ...
since the championship was first held in 2006, which brought further exposure to the event as
Eurosport
Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...
broadcasts footage of this championship to many countries.
The rally is traditionally run in the summer, in early August or late July. The stages of
Chão da Lagoa,
Paul da Serra and the
Encumeada downhill are known as its biggest driving challenges. Several drivers of international note such as
Ari Vatanen,
Henri Toivonen,
Massimo Biasion and
Andrea Aghini have won this rally before going on to win
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...
rounds and championships. Aghini is the most successful driver in the events history, winning four times between 1992 and 2002. In 2013
Giandomenico Basso became the second driver to achieve a fourth victory, the same happened in 2015 with
Bruno Magalhães.
The event is named after the
Madeira wine.
Winners
References
External links
Official websiteRallybaseYoutube - onboard video of the Encumeada stage
Madeira
Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...
Vinho
Vinho
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