Motorsport: Matthieu Margaillan doubles his efforts at the Rallye Castine Terre d’Occitanie

The winner of the 2023 edition, Matthieu Margaillan (affiliated to Mathilde Margaillan) doubled his efforts 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 of a Skoda Fabia Evo 5 took control of the rally from the start by winning the first special of the weekend to maintain his lead until the end of the rally. By winning six of the twelve special stages in this 2024 edition of the event organized by ASA Castine and Ecurie des Mille Tours and never finishing above third place on the special stages, Mathieu Margaillan secured victory. “We are very happy with our performance, we did not make any mistakes. We were on hyper alert all weekend. » rejoiced the winner on 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 2021 Rallye Castine), who finished third in 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 car trip during the third special on Saturday, made a good comeback. Thirtieth after three specials, he eventually finished ninth overall, winning two specials in the Rally in the process (the 4th Bétaille 2 special and the 11th Reilhac 2 special).
In a particularly tough context, with all the major gravel rally specialists there this weekend in the north of Lot, the drivers from Lot managed to do brilliantly. As can be seen from the very good tenth place in the scratch by Lotois Michaël Lobry in his Renault Clio R5 Rallye. “Everything worked well. I am very happy. With the rain yesterday afternoon we had to be hyper vigilant and not make any mistakes, but we managed well throughout the race and finished in the top 10, my best result in a Gravel Rally. So I will be present at the third 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 in the scratch classification in 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 develop at this speed, we will win in ten years! “Riding at home is super nice. We are 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, in a Porsche 911, taking second place. Philippe Herran (winner of special stage 4 on Saturday) on Subaru Legacy, completes the podium.