Rallye Terre d'Aléria – SS6: Conner Martell and Alex Gelsomino regain the lead in the standings

This Saturday, May 23rd, five more special stages are scheduled on the program. Rally Terre d'Aléria, the third round of the 2026 French Gravel Rally Championship. The morning loop began with SS6, the first pass through Pianiccia – Domaine de la Taste, a 10,31-kilometer special stage. Having finished in the lead last night, Sarah Rumeau and Julie Amblard (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) were tasked with opening the road, and this will be the case throughout the day.

The starting order for today's stage

In this context, and on a very dusty stage with a lot of sweeping, Conner Martell and Alex Gelsomino (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) regained the overall lead by setting the fastest time on the stage with a time of 8:00.0, 7,4 seconds ahead of Sarah Rumeau and Julie Amblard, who, as a reminder, held a 7,1-second lead overall at the start of this leg. The American driver and his Italian co-driver now lead the provisional standings by three-tenths of a second.

ALSO READ > Leading the SMRC4 in Aléria this evening with a 29,7 second advantage, Alexandre Villiod and Maëlle Casays continue to impress.

Quentin Ribaud – Loan Biagetti (Hyundai The i20N Rally2 drivers maintained their provisional third position at the end of this stage, 49,2 seconds behind Rumeau – Amblard and 49,5 seconds behind Martell – Gelsomino. They set the third fastest time on SS6 with a time of 8:05.3, 5,3 seconds behind Conner Martell and Alex Gelsomino, who were beaten by Matthieu and Mathilde Margaillan (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2), second on this stage with a time of 8:03.4. This performance allowed them to close to within just five-tenths of a second of provisional fourth position, currently held by Jean-Philippe Quilichini and FX Buresi (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2). In Rally2, the stage was marked by the mechanical retirement of Faniry Rasoamaromaka and Manon Deliot (Citroën C3 Rally2).

In SMRC4, a dramatic turn of events occurred when Mattéo Codaccioni and Marine Lacruz went off the road, having been provisionally in 3rd place overall. Tom Pellerey and Kévin Bronner set the fastest time on the special stage, three seconds ahead of Alexandre Villiod and Maëlle Casays, but the latter maintain their overall lead over the Vaucluse driver and the 2025 French Gravel Rally Co-drivers Champion by 26,7 seconds. Loïc Costes and Christelle Perrin have therefore provisionally moved into 3rd place. It's worth noting that the winner of the 2025 Rallye Castine Terre d'Occitanie in SMRC4 had designated this event as Rally+, a specific feature of the SMRC4 regulations that allows the crew to maximize their points tally at the finish.

CFRT – Aléria Land Rally
The provisional classification of SS6

The provisional overall standings after SS6