Dani Sordo will have the number 1 on his Hyundai i20N Rally2 in the 66th edition of the Rali da Madeira, which takes place in a week's time. The Spanish Hyundai driver tops the list of 97 entrants revealed this afternoon by Club Sports da Madeira, the entity responsible for the event since its first edition in 1959. The list revealed today is marked not only by a large number of competitors but also by their high quality, promising a memorable rally.

The list made public today includes 24 competitors with Rally2 cars, 7 with RGT and 26 with Rally4, which, under normal conditions, will allow many spectators to watch for about an hour the evolution of teams with the best cars available at this time at the international competitive level. Rali da Madeira will feature international stars as well as drivers competing for the top positions in national and regional championships and those from single-brand competitions that include the event in their calendar.

In addition to Sordo, Simone Campedelli and Diego Ruiloba, the two fastest drivers in last year's edition, will be at the start of the event, and, among others, names such as Kris Meeke, Armindo Araújo, Ricardo Teodósio, Miguel Nunes, José Pedro Fontes, João Silva, Rúben Rodrigues, Alexandre Camacho, the record holder for victories in the rally, Miguel Caires, and Rui Jorge Fernandes. These and other competitors will be behind the wheel of all the brands present in this group, Skoda, with several versions of the Fabia Rally2, Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, Citroën C3 Rally2, Hyundai i20N Rally2 and even a Ford Fiesta R5.

Filipe Freitas, Gil Freitas, Joachim Wagemans and Paulo Mendes are references in the low and efficient RGTs made by Porsche and Alpine. Competition within competition, the fight for supremacy among front-wheel drive vehicle users will be fierce. In addition to the drivers who set the pace in this category at both national and regional level, Rali da Madeira will once again feature the main contenders in the Peugeot Rally Cup Iberica and Portugal. The balance between RC4 cars even leads names such as Vasco Silva, Sandro Teixeira, Carlos Ferreira, Henrique Moniz, Ricardo Sousa, Giovanni Fariña and the previous winner of the rally, Adruzilo Lopes, to predict how the various stages of the race will unfold.

The event, directed by Filipe Sousa, will also feature drivers in the not-so-current R3T, Nuno Ferreira and João Alix, as well as stars of the show such as Cláudio Nóbrega in a Datsun 1200, Miguel Gouveia in a BMW E36 and Mário Oliveira in a Ford Escort RS Mk II. There are plenty of reasons for the rally-loving locals and the many visitors who come to Madeira at this time of year to be impatient for Rali da Madeira to get underway.