Loix closes on Madeira victory

Škoda Motorsport’s Freddy Loix is two stages away from winning Rali Vinho Madeira for the first time. The Belgian, driving a Fabia S2000 Facelift alongside co-driver Frédéric Miclotte, went fastest through stage 19, Ponta do Pargo, to widen his overall lead to 36.7s.

Loix’s team-mate Jan Kopecký holds a comfortable second place with Miguel Nunes keeping Juho Hänninen at bay in third.

The penultimate stage, the 11.52-kilometre Rosário test, goes live at 14:47hrs local time.

Overall positions after SS19:

1 Freddy Loix 2h47m13.9s
2 Jan Kopecký +36.7s
3 Miguel Nunes +2m21.8s
4 Juho Hänninen +2m23.4s
5 Vitor Sá +2m59.0s
6 Filipe Freitas +8m13.8s
7 João Magalhães +8m31.9s
8 Pedro Peres +9m28.0s