diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index ad80b375..4baa8ad0 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.6.0-rc0 20600000
+2.6.1-rc0 20601000
diff --git a/version.properties b/version.properties
index fa4442d2..74c563de 100644
--- a/version.properties
+++ b/version.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ### Updated by release.sh ###
 project.versioning.major=2
 project.versioning.minor=6
-project.versioning.patch=0
+project.versioning.patch=1
 project.versioning.build=0
 #############################