Stage 2 of the Carta Rallye was a nightmare for many riders, a good chunk of whom lost their bikes to a river crossing so treacherous that race officials ultimately canceled the rest of the leg. To make matters worse, the retrieval process was lengthy and some bikes were still stranded in the water by the start of Wednesday’s action.

Ten competitors ended up missing Stage 3 as they had to wait for their rides to be extracted: Clément Artaud, Anthony Baille, Thibaud Chandezon, Jérôme Clastre, Jon Florea, Frédéric Murat, Felix Predescu, Noa Sainct, and Khoun-Sith Vongsana. It was an especially big blow for Sainct, who was ninth overall after two stages but missing Wednesday means he falls to 31st.

As for those who were able to start the 183-km stage, Martim Ventura enjoyed a solid day to win the stage and take the overall lead for bikes.

Stage 2 winner Kevin Gallas initially led in what he noted had tricky navigation” and “a lot of open piste and a lot of CAPs”. However, he lost the lead “literally 500 meters before refuel” to Ventura “because I read the wrong note.”

Gallas would finish second, 11 minutes behind Ventura. This dropped Gallas to fourth overall behind Ventura, Benjamin Melot, and Gautier Paulin; Paulin had led the first two days before some navigation errors sank him.

“Today was the first day where I think nothing happened,” said Ventura. “Yesterday was a day to forget on the one hand, but one to remember on the other. I had a problem with the power supply on the navigation device, but nothing happened afterward. I then ended up losing a lot of time and the ones behind me got caught up. We went through rivers that were not expected to have water, so it was a day full of adventures where together we stocked up on about four or five pilots. It was cool.

“Today, basically nothing happened. I rode quite well, I think I navigated well, but I still have a lot to improve in navigation. I have to be more fluid, but I think I’m doing a good job. I’m rolling well, not getting too stuck in the tighter sections.”

Wednesday saw double duty for the four-wheelers as they did both SS3 with the bikes followed by a 49-km night stage on their own. Although a simple course, the nighttime environment made it unpredictable.

The shorter distance played into the SSVs’ hand as Frédéric Valverde set the fastest time in his Can-Am Maverick X3. Simon Vitse, who had been the quickest car overall through the first three specials, finished 18th and over 22 minutes back.

Despite the short length, there was still some movement in the overall between the ends of SS3 and the night leg. David Casteu fell from fifth overall to 11th after finishing 23rd and fifth for SSV Series cars.

Conversely, Adrien Choblet’s won the stage for SSV Series to take the class lead in the general ranking, moving up from ninth to fifth.

Stage 3 winners

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Up to 450cc	1	84	Martim Ventura	Old Friends Rally Team	2:25:41
Over 450cc	2	71	Kevin Gallas	Ténéré Spirit Experience	2:36:11
Quad	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	N/A	DNF

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	101	Simon Vitse	Team Vitse	2:16:43
2WD	10	105	Nicolas Delencre	Config Racing	2:48:28
4×4	37	108	Laurent Ducreux	Team Ducreux	4:38:20
SSV Open	2	201	Hugues Lacam	Speed Up	2:29:29
SSV Series	4	210	David Casteu	Casteu Trophy	2:40:20

Leaders after Stage 3

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Up to 450cc	1	84	Martim Ventura	Old Friends Rally Team	9:13:47
Over 450cc	3	21	Gautier Paulin	Yamaha Ténéré World Raid Team	9:48:33
Quad	34	45	Alexis Varagne	Dragon Racing	19:09:42

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	101	Simon Vitse	Team Vitse	8:11:26
2WD	27	105	Nicolas Delencre	Config Racing	13:25:40
4×4	31	108	Laurent Ducreux	Team Ducreux	14:28:17
SSV Open	2	201	Hugues Lacam	Speed Up	9:25:26
SSV Series	5	210	David Casteu	Casteu Trophy	10:00:23

Night Stage results

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	18	101	Simon Vitse	Team Vitse	1:06:26
2WD	26	103	Yves Fromont	Team Fromont	1:19:34
4×4	27	108	Laurent Ducreux	Team Ducreux	1:21:09
SSV Open	1	215	Frédéric Valverde	BTR	44:58
SSV Series	6	209	Adrien Choblet	Casteu Trophy	52:02

Leaders after Night Stage

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	101	Simon Vitse	Team Vitse	9:17:52
2WD	28	105	Nicolas Delencre	Config Racing	14:56:49
4×4	30	108	Laurent Ducreux	Team Ducreux	15:49:26
SSV Open	2	201	Hugues Lacam	Speed Up	10:33:22
SSV Series	5	210	David Casteu	Casteu Trophy	11:01:11

Featured image credit: Kevin Gallas