Daniel Oliveira has vowed to adopt a cautious approach in order to finish Rali Vinho Madeira this week.
The island event marks the Brazilian’s third ever start on asphalt and after failing to finish on his last IRC appearance in Belgium in June Oliveira is anxious to build his experience by completing all of the rally’s 21 special stages.
“It’s a very technical rally, not easy at all to learn,” said Oliveira. “Because of this I look only to finish and not for my position. This is a rally where you need a lot of experience to do well and I’m sure the guys who know the roads will do much better than me.”
Although he’s been absent from the IRC since Ypres, Oliveira has kept himself busy by contesting Rally Tucumán, a national championship event in Argentina, where he finished eighth overall in a Subaru Impreza WRX.
While Oliveira’s experience in Madeira is non-existent, his team boss Manfred Stohl, has competed on the island on two occasions in the past as a driver and will offer his young charge plenty of advice during the course of the event.
Oliveira’s plans for a pre-event test in Madeira on Monday had to be cancelled due to the late arrival of the boat carrying Oliveira’s Peugeot 207 S2000.