Rhône Charbonnières Rally – SS3: Astier sets the fastest time but Bonato retains the lead

Ternand – Chamelet and its 8,18 kilometers proved to be another challenging section for the crews on this first morning of the Rally Rhône-Charbonnières. After more than an hour's break at the start, following Côme Ledogar's off-track excursion in SS2, the crews restarted with cold tires on a particularly treacherous asphalt.

In the end, Raphaël Astier and Denis Giraudet set the best time on the special stage in 4:36.9, at an average speed of 106,3 km/h. "It's surprising, as Denis just said." (Giraudet, his co-pilot. Editor's note) » admits Astier, surprised to be in the lead with a Porsche yet very wide. “We can feel that we’re wide on the road, that we’re taking up space, we have to stay ‘in the middle’. It’s not very dirty yet, so we’re salvaging what we can.” continues the author of the scratch. The number 3 Porsche 992 GT+ proved to be the fastest on this short special stage, but it was not enough to dislodge Yoann Bonato from the overall lead.

Despite Astier's fastest time, Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud limited the damage by finishing second in SS3 in 4:37.3, just 0,4 seconds behind. The Lancia Ypsilon HF thus retains its overall lead with a cumulative time of 23:05.6, ahead of Astier by 4 seconds and Margaillan – Coppa by 6,4 seconds. It was a bit of a "Holiday on Ice" style start to the special; we saw that with Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier at the Olympic Games. (Gold medalists in figure skating. Editor's note!)", jokes Yoann Bonato, quite pleased to have salvaged the situation for his CFR debut with the Lancia Ypsilon"We had to be careful, but it went well. I don't think it will be a perfect stage, but it will be tough for everyone."

The leading duo continues to battle for the win, with Margaillan-Coppa lying in wait.

Hugo Margaillan and Mathieu Coppa, third in the special stage with a time of 4:37.7, remain in contention and are giving it their all. Three crews, less than a second apart on SS3, less than 7 seconds overall — the 2026 Rhône-Charbonnières Rally is being decided by the smallest details.

Behind the leading trio, Rehane Gany and Franck Le Floch (Hyundai The i20 (#6) set the fourth fastest time on the special stage in 4:40.5 and remain fourth overall, 24,6 seconds behind. Lucas Darmezin and Charlyne Quartini (#5) completed the top five on the special stage in 4:43.4 and are fifth overall, 35,2 seconds behind. Benjamin and Florence Stirling (Citroën C3, #4) are sixth and the last crew within a minute of the leaders (+56,4 s).

Kenneth Madsen and Mads Dalsager (Citroën C3 DNK, #7) made the best move of the day with the seventh fastest time on SS3 in 4:52.7, moving up to ninth place overall, 1:33.0 behind. Ludovic Godard and Alexis Maillefert (Alpine A110, #10) lose a place (8th) to Ghislain Barbier and Yoann Bouchet (Porsche 992, #12), who move up to seventh.

See you at 14:30pm for the second loop of the day, where the crews will face the same three special stages as in the morning.

CFR – Rhône-Charbonnières Rally
The classification of SS3

The general after SS3