Rhône-Charbonnières Rally – SS5: Bonato wins the sprint, Margaillan close behind

One hundredth of a second per kilometer. That's all that separated Yoann Bonato and Hugo Margaillan over the 14,88 kilometers of Montrottier – Saint-Forgeux – Saint-Romain-de-Popey. The Lancia Ypsilon HF of number 1 set the fastest time of 07:30.7 at an average speed of 118,9 km/h, ahead of the Hyundai Margaillan's i20 – Coppa in 07:30.8, a difference of only one-tenth of a second. A truly astonishing gap on a special stage of nearly 15 kilometers, which perfectly encapsulates the intensity of the battle between the two crews since the start.

Overall, Bonato consolidates his first place with a cumulative time of 41:26.2. But it's the movement behind him that's really grabbing attention. Margaillan and Coppa, thanks to their near-scratch performance, are now just 6,2 seconds behind Astier and maintain their third place overall, 10,3 seconds behind Bonato. Raphaël Astier and Denis Giraudet, third in the stage with a time of 07:32.7, 2 seconds behind Bonato, find themselves in second place overall, 4,1 seconds back, after losing ground compared to SS4. The top three remain extremely close—10,3 seconds between first and third—and the race is far from over.

Behind them, Rehane Gany and Franck Le Floch (Hyundai i20, #6) set the fourth fastest time on the stage in 07:34.4 but lost ground overall, now 40,9 seconds behind Bonato compared to 37,2 seconds after SS4. Lucas Darmezin and Charlyne Quartini (#5) finished fifth on the stage in 07:39.6 and fifth overall, 1:01.8 behind, breaking the one-minute barrier on the leader for the first time.

With one stage remaining in the day, Bonato holds the lead, but nothing is certain. Astier, 4,1 seconds behind, and Margaillan, 10,3 seconds back, are still very much in contention. The final stage, Ternand – Chamelet, will be the deciding factor in the first leg of this rally. Rally Rhône-Charbonnières 2026 which has so far lived up to all its promises in terms of suspense and intensity.

CFR – Rhône-Charbonnières Rally
The classification of SS5

The general classification after SS5