The ‘PEC Palheiro Ferreiro 1’, the longest stage of the Rali Vinho da Madeira, was marked by several accidents and withdrawals.
One of the accidents, involving vehicle 70, the Renault Clio Rally5 of André Freitas/José Bettencourt, fell into a ravine, which required an ambulance and an extrication vehicle to arrive on the road. Despite the equipment, both drivers are fine.
However, in light of this accident, the organization postponed the last section of the event before lunch by around 10 minutes, which includes the first round through Santana, on the north coast of the island.
In this “classic” special, which this year revisits the version of the old Ribeiro Frio PEC, with a length of 22.06 km, passing through the Choupana jump, Chão da Lagoa, Poiso and finishing in Ribeiro Frio, another of the “unlucky” riders was Madeiran João Silva. The rider, who was the best Portuguese rider in the race, occupying second place overall, lost many minutes, dropping to 11th place, as a result of a crash that resulted in a puncture.
