Italian driver Giandomenico Basso won the 50th Rali Vinho da Madeira at the wheel of his Abarth Grande Punto S2000 last Saturday, running the new A31-specification tyres developed by BFGoodrich. Portuguese drivers Bruno Magalhaes and Alex Camacho, racing aboard Peugeot 207s, made it an all-BFGoodrich podium.

Rally Madeira marked the seventh round of the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge and presented the manufacturers with a difficult task, the twisting stages and steep downhill sections on the volcanic island representing a serious challenge for the tyres.

"The road surface is very low-grip, but the sustained loads on the downhill sections and the sudden braking zones really take it out of the tyres," explained Jacques Morelli, IRC programme manager for BFGoodrich. "This year, the 50kg ballast carried by the S2000 cars adds a further dimension to the work the tyres must do."

"We consequently developed a new hard-compound product which we made available to all our partner teams this weekend. Cars using the new A31 tyre took the top seven positions, which is clearly a very positive result," continued Morelli.

Italian Giandomenico Basso had previously won in Madeira in 2006 and 2007. Driving a BFGoodrich-shod Abarth, he soon took control of the rally, setting six consecutive fastest times on the opening leg, which was held in sweltering conditions including ground temperatures of up to 52°C!

Bruno Magalhaes and Alex Camacho immediately slotted in behind the Italian while, further back, the IRC's leading lights – Nicolas Vouilloz, Luca Rossetti, Kris Meeke and Freddy Loix – were engaged in a battle royal.

The next day, Basso managed his lead and, in spite of a spin towards the end of the rally, the 2006 European Champion took his first win of the season after scoring a podium on the recent Rally Russia. The Abarth/BFGoodrich team has made a strong start to the second half of the season, and could have brought both of the works Grande Punto cars home in the points had Luca Rossetti not crashed at the start of the second leg.

The Peugeot/BFGoodrich cars weren't on the same pace this weekend and had to settle for the other podium positions. Behind the Portuguese competitors Bruno Magalhaes (six fastest times) and Alex Camacho, who finished on the podium, Nicolas Vouilloz (who won in Madeira in 2008), Kris Meeke and Freddy Loix made it five Peugeot 207 S2000 machines in the top six.

After wins for Peugeot (Monte Carlo, Brazil, Azores and Ypres), and for Skoda in Russia, BFGoodrich has now taken victory with Abarth, its third official partner team to win this season. Peugeot is still leading the Manufacturers' championship comfortably, while Briton Kris Meeke, who was competing in Madeira for the first time, retains the lead in the Drivers' points table thanks to his fifth-place finish.