At the last minute, Madeira was dropped from this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) calendar leaving the ERC to top the bill. This means a number of the IRC’s leading lights will give the island round a miss; however, along with a host of pretenders to his European crown led out by his closest rival, fellow countryman Luca Betti (Peugeot 207 S2000), ‘Rox’ will still face a tough challenge from a swathe of rapid Portuguese drivers, starting with Bruno Magalhães and Vítor Sá, both behind the wheel of the Peugeot 207 S2000 on an event where experience counts for everything.

This said, Rossetti, who is fresh from winning the last round of the ERC, the Rally Bulgaria, last month, also knows the island well: last year he was locked in a battle for outright victory with IRC contender Freddie Loix (Skoda Fabia S2000) until an accident on the penultimate stage, while the ageing Abarth Grande Punto S2000 has always been comfortable on this fast, smooth asphalt surface. Although nearing the end of its competitive life, the fearsome Scorpion machine should be able to turn back the clock to its heyday and provide the talented Rossetti with a mount with which to pitch to further extend his championship lead.

“I am very happy to take part again in this amazing race: on the island in the Atlantic during the race days you can breathe a particular air, an air of celebration and passion for rally, there are many fans who follow the event and this always gives an additional push,” said Rossetti. “The Rally Vinho da Madeira is one of the races on asphalt that I like most, and this year I hope to obtain the victory which I missed last year because of an accident. The international opposition will not fail and as usual, it will be enhanced by the presence of strong local drivers.”

In the European Rally Championship standings, Rossetti has 146 points going into Madeira having claimed 39, 46, 28 and 33 points respectively from the four rounds he has contested so far. The 33 points he picked up in the last round in Bulgaria was 11 more than Betti collected on the same event (22 points) and that opened up the Abarth driver’s cushion to 37 points with six rounds left to be contested. Maciej Oleksowicz didn’t start in Bulgaria, but remained in a solid third place on 82 points heading to the Portuguese island this week, while Tlust'ák, who picked up 11 points on the last round, stays in fourth place on 57 points. Iliev’s haul of 21 points in Bulgaria moved him up to fifth place on 46 points.

The Abarth Grande Punto has an enviable record on the volcanic Atlantic island which belongs to Portugal. It is a record forged in large part by Rossetti’s now-departed Abarth factory team mate Giandomenico Basso, who has an unrivalled record of three wins during the last five years (2006, 2007 and 2009) while in 2008 he was the runner-up to Nicolas Vouilloz (Peugeot 207 S2000). Last year Basso didn’t start the event.

The Grande Punto is the latest machine to add its name to the Fiat Group’s impressive roll-call of honours on the island rally: between 1983 and 1992 Lancia collected a haul of no less than eight wins split between the 037 Rally, Delta S4 and Delta integrale, while its immortal Stratos visited the winner’s circle in 1979. One year later, it was the turn of another rally legend, Fiat’s 131 Abarth. Alfa Romeo and Ferrari also have their names on the roll call of honour in Madeira, the former with a single win in 1961 while the latter can count on back-to-back victories in 1962 and 1963.

The ceremonial start of the rally is scheduled to take place in Funchal at 16:45 the day after tomorrow (Thursday August 4th) followed by the super special stage which will be 2.28km in length. The rally will restart on Friday (August 5th) with the crews tackling 10 special stages for a total timed of 148.86 kilometres. The Rali Vinho da Madeira will end on Saturday (August 6th) after a total of 19 special stages and 268.5km against the clock, with the arrival of the first cars scheduled for 17:10 in the afternoon.