the essential
Winner of six of the twelve special stages of the weekend, Matthieu Margaillan, who had already won in 2023, added his name, for the second time, to the winners of the Rallye Castine Terre d’Occitanie. He is ahead of Laurent Pellier, second, and Benjamin Clemençon, third.
Winner of the 2023 edition, Matthieu Margaillan (associated with Mathilde Margaillan) doubled the stakes this weekend by adding his name, for the second year in a row, to the winners of the Rallye Castine Terre d’Occitanie.
In this second round of the 2024 French Terrestrial Rally Championship, Matthieu Margaillan (second in the Rallye Terre des Causses a month ago in Aveyron) will have led the debates from start to finish.
The driver on a Skoda Fabia Evo 5 took control of the rally from the outset by winning the first special of the weekend to maintain the lead until the end of the Rally. By winning six of the twelve special stages of this 2024 edition of the event organized by ASA Castine and the Ecurie des Mille Tours and never finishing beyond third place on the special stages, Mathieu Margaillan assured his victory. “We are really satisfied with our performance, we didn’t make any mistakes. We were hyper vigilant throughout the weekend. » rejoiced the winner upon arrival in Bretenoux.
He is ahead of Laurent Pellier in the final ranking (second in the rally at 24”4 and winner of three specials). Benjamin Clémençon (winner of the Rallye Castine in 2021), who finished third at 1’15”7, completes the podium this 24th Rallye Castine.
Winner of the first Gravel Rally of the season in Aveyron, Florent Todeschini, victim of a road trip during the third special on Saturday, made a good comeback. Thirtieth after three specials, he finally finished in ninth place overall, winning two specials of the Rally along the way (the 4th Bétaille 2 special and the 11th Reilhac 2 special).
In a particularly tough context, with all the major specialists in gravel rallies being there this weekend in the north of the Lot, the drivers from Lot managed to do brilliantly. As evidenced by the very good tenth place in the scratch of Lotois Michaël Lobry on his Renault Clio R5 Rallye. “Everything worked well. I’m very happy. With the rain yesterday afternoon we had to be hyper vigilant and not make any mistakes but we managed to manage well throughout the race and finished in the top 10, my best result in a Gravel Rally. So, I will be present at the 3rd round of the French Terrestrial Rally Championship in two weeks in Corsica. » The Cadurcien driver is ahead of another Lotois Julien France, ASA Castine driver, who ranks a brilliant eleventh place in the scratch classification on his Citroën C3 R5. A very happy driver on arrival. “We wanted to get closer to the top 10 and we finished 11th. We are happy with what we did, especially as the level was very high. We were 13th 2 years ago, 12th last year, if we continue to progress at this rate, in ten years we will win! » jokes Julien France. “Riding at home is super nice. We know everyone here. We’re at home.”
In the historic vehicle rally, victory went to Guino Kenis (on BMW 325I), winner of eleven of the rally’s twelve special stages. The ASA Castine Nicolas Thérond /Vincent Lacoste team ranks, on a Porsche 911, taking second place. Philippe Herran (winner of special stage 4 on Saturday) on Subaru Legacy, completes the podium.
