Freddy loix holds the lead of the Rali Vinho Madeira going into Day 2 after Luca Rosetti, with whom he spent the day fighting for first with, crashed his Fiat Grande Punto S2000 out of the rally on the penultimate stage.
Between Loix and Rosetti, the lead changed hands four times, with the Belgian taking eight stage wins over the course of the day. All this, plus Loix is having to compete in extreme discomfort after he came off his motorbike, and injured his shoulder. Loix is receiving painkillers at the moment, but is relieved that the first day is over.
Current leader of the ERC, Rosetti said a 'good feeling' in his Punto S2000 had given him the lead. However, this all ended when the Italian put his Punto S2000 into a wall 12 kms into the penultimate stage. Rosetti escaped injury, but his co-driver Matteo Chiarcossi was taken to hospital with an arm injury.
Another driver to crash out of the event was Bruno Magalhaes. Magalhaes exited the event spectacularly on SS3. After receiving a puncture on the opening stage, he was absolutely flat-out trying to regain time. But, on SS3, Bruno suffered brake failure after a jump. Heading down towards a right-hander, he tried the handbrake to slow the car down, but the car went over a barrier and down a back, writing off the car in the process.
“I was trying, trying everything after the puncture. I tried to pull the handbrake to stop but there was nothing I could do and I think the chassis is destroyed. Since 2003 I have had no accident so this is very disappointing because we had the speed.”
Local driver Bernardo Sousa retired on SS5 when the car's engine bay caught fire. However, there is a chance that he will return tomorrow under SupeRally regs.
Reigning IRC Champion Kris Meeke lead after SS1, but quickly fell to third when the fight between Loix and Rosetti. Meeke's explanation was that the car was a bit hesitant leaving tight hairpins and was slightly twitchy over bumps.
IRC 2010 leader Juho Hanninen holds fourth, this being his first time competing on the island. Team-mate Jan Kopecky is third, only 1.1 secs behind second-placed Meeke.
Burku Cetinkaya is 20th, returning after a crash which heavily damaged her Peugeot Sport Turkey 207. Daniel Olivera has also returned after skipping the last round. His 207 S2000 being, like the similar car of Cetinkaya, being wrecked on the Geko Rally Ypres in June.
Luís Serrado is 14th o/a and leads the IRC 2WD class on-board his Peugeot 206 with Duarte Ramos second in his Peugeot 206.
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