José Pedro Fontes is bringing a Citroën C3 Rally2 to Rali Vinho da Madeira, equipped with the latest developments available for the model. The driver intends, ‘once again, to fight for outright victory in the rally. However, I think this edition will be one of the toughest in recent years. As well as the local drivers, who are always favourites, we'll have several drivers from the Portuguese Rally Championship as well as foreigners with experience of the route. I always come to Madeira with great motivation because, it's no secret, this is my favourite rally on asphalt.’ The boss of the Sports & You team is 48 years old and has been involved in almost every discipline of motorsport. He made his rallying debut in 1997 with a Seat Ibiza GTi. He has represented brands such as Fiat and Renault and has defended Citroën since 2015. He was national champion in 2015 and 2016 at the wheel of a Citroën DS3 R5. Last year he also won the FIA Iberian Rally Trophy and, for the only time, Rali Vinho da Madeira.

Simone Campedelli returns, now in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, for the third time in a row to Rali Vinho da Madeira. Something ‘we really like. We're very happy to be returning for the third year and that we already know the roads. The objectives are to have fun and honour our presence on the island. We know that there are very strong drivers like Meeke, Camacho, Nunes, Araújo and Ruiloba and it will certainly never be easy. However, we're clearly going to push the pace because we want to improve on our ranking from previous years. We'll see if we can do it. There's no particular tactic, just accelerate from the first metre to the last’. The Italian turned 38 last Friday 26 July and has been rallying since 2004, when he made his debut in a Citroën Saxo. He then used both a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX and a Citroën DS3 R3T for many years. Since 2015 he has been behind the wheel of the RC2s. He won the Italian dirt trophy in 2007, the Italian junior championship in 2011, the two-wheel drive championship in 2012, the asphalt promotion in 2017 and won the transalpine asphalt championship in both 2022 and 2023.

Tomorrow's Rally Talks at the Plaza will feature a meeting of generations, father and son, both linked to motorsport: veteran driver Vasco Silva and the young driver of the same name Vasco Silva. Moderating this interesting conversation will be Duarte Lagos, one of the people responsible for relations with the RVM 2024 competitors.  This initiative will once again take place on the 2nd floor of Plaza Madeira, at 12 pm. We're counting on you.

The Deputy Mayor of Funchal, Bruno Pereira, presented yesterday at a press conference the road changes that will be made in the city during Rali Vinho da Madeira. From Monday 29th July, road traffic will be interrupted between 9 p.m. and 11.30 p.m. on Avenida do Mar, so that the teams taking part in the RVM can carry out their reconnaissance. On Thursday 1st August, due to the 1st SS on Avenida do Mar, traffic will be stopped on several streets from 2p.m, reopening at 10:30 p.m. On the remaining days, there will be restrictions in the area of the Service Park and the Closed Park and road closures in the Palheiro Ferreiro Qualifying Stages, in the area of Caminho dos Pretos, Terreiro da Luta, Palheiro Ferreiro and Chão da Lagoa. On Saturday 3rd August, Avenida do Mar Sul and Avenida das Comunidades Madeirenses will be closed to traffic and parking will be prohibited in the southern traffic lanes of the Avenida between 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. On these days, quota 40 may be used as an alternative, all of which is operating normally. Bruno Pereira asks the public to attend the race safely, and also to respect the organisation's guidelines and the PSP's instructions. The Deputy Mayor also appeals for people to avoid parking illegally, as this can create problems in terms of safety.

Kris Meeke arrives in Madeira with the Hyundai i20N Rally2 with which he leads the Portuguese Rally Championship. ‘We're looking forward to returning to Madeira, a beautiful place with very nice people. However, the rally will be very tough as the competition will be very strong, not only with the Portuguese championship drivers, who have been there many times, but also the local drivers, Alexandre Camacho and Miguel Nunes. My rally last year was short. I hit the wall coming out of a corner right at the start of the rally. So the main objective is to finish and collect as many points as possible for the CPR, knowing that it will be very challenging to fight with the locals. We always like challenges. It'll be fun to see Camacho with the new Toyota’. Brit Meeke turned 45 years old about three weeks ago and made his rallying debut in 2000 with a Peugeot 106 GTi. A driver ‘sponsored’ by Colin McRae, he drove S1600 cars between 2003 and 2006 in the JWRC. He returned to the international spotlight in 2009 with Peugeot and took the 207 S2000 to the IRC title. Between 2015 and 2019 he was in the WRC representing Citroën and Toyota, winning four rallies. Since last year he has been working for Hyundai Portugal. This is his fourth participation in Rali Vinho da Madeira.

Vasco Silva is taking part in the Rali Vinho da Madeira with the usual Renault Clio Rally4 and he wants to ‘try to be at the front of that class. That's our goal, but we'll have to see how strong the competition is from outside the island and how the car behaves, as we'll be using all the upgrades available for the model we're driving in this event. We're in a very good position in the championship and that's the result of all the excellent work carried out by the team. Our results have been above expectations. In this rally, the tactic is to see what the new evolution of the engine is like, as well as to check some of the changes we've made to the car's set-up based on our recent experience with the Peugeot.’ Vasco Silva, son of the driver of the same name, is 32 years old and made his rallying debut in 2015 with a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9. That very year he won his first title, among those driving VSH. Between 2016 and 2018 he was at the controls of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, with which he was group champion in the model's last year of use. He returned to the sport in 2024 and is the clear leader in the two-wheel drive competition.