Highs and Lows in Corsica at Rallye Terre D’Aleria!
A whirlwind weekend of racing occured on the island of Corsica for both Conner Martell & Alex Gelsomino. The pair had proven their speed and ability at the past two rounds of the French Gravel championship and carried serious momentum coming into the third round of the series. “Rallye Terre d’Aleria” : A three day rally featuring the most technical stages of the entire championship paired with a strong field of competitors provided the American duo with a serious challenge.
Martell & Gelsomino reviewing video during regroup after completing same day Recce. (Photo: Bastien Roux)
Qualifying in 5th place after the first stage on Thursday the pair chose 6th position on the road for the second day of the rally with the hopes of swept roads and defined lines. Following a mechanical issue from the leader of the rally Florent Todeschini, Martell ended Day 2 of the Rally in second place behind fellow 2C Competition teammate and talent “Sarah Rumeau”. The duo found themselves in yet another heated battle against their teammate going into the final day of the Rally with a 7.1 second deficit behind Sarah Rumeau.
(Photo: Bastien Roux)
Day 3 of the rally started with early morning Recce of the final stages. Martell quickly gained time back on the first stage of the day reclaiming 7.4 seconds against Rumeau and co-Driver Julie Amblard giving him a slight lead. The following stage (SS7) Martell won, gaining a small margin only to lose a 0.4 of a second on SS8 to Rumeau. This set the stage for a truly historic battle as the race came down to the final 2 stages of the event with Martell leading against Rumeau by 1.4 seconds.
(Photo: Bastien Roux)
A close battle on SS9, Martell won the second to last stage by 0.03 of a second giving him a little more of a buffer against his teammate who is known to push extremely hard on the second loop of stages. It all came down to the final stage of the rally where Martell knew he had to give it everything to ensure his teammate couldn’t claw back enough time to secure the victory. Unfortunately in rallying things don’t always go as planned and in this case it was evident. Martell and Gelsomino on the final stage pushed and made a mistake half way through the stage causing them to go off the road and get stuck on top of a large dirt berm with no ability to move the car. Martell had this to say
“Alex and I were having a great event and had a small lead heading into the last stage. We went for a push and unfortunately I made a mistake and went a bit too fast into a 3- (3rd gear corner). We got stuck on a berm on the outside of the turn. We tried to get it out but there was no chance.”
A very tough pill to swallow for the pair who had worked incredibly hard the entire event to produce a 1st place result ultimately ending in a DNF. The fans and fellow competitors were thrilled to see such a battle and ultimately were equally as dismayed about the unfortunate end to their rally.
(Photo: Bastien Roux)
From Martell : “ Rallye Terre d’Aleria was one of the most challenging rally’s ive ever been to. Very fun but also very trick and challenging to find a rhythm. I would like to thank 2C Competition for giving me an incredible car and to everyone else involved. Our time will come and we are continuing to learn. The next race will be a big one! Congratulations to both Sarah and Julie on their outstanding performance. They have helped push my racecraft to a new level.”
Stay tuned for a full length Youtube recap of the event and Martells updated race schedule for the remainder of the 2026 season!