Following on from the first two events in Le Touquet and the Vosges, the Clio Trophy France Asphalte competitors travelled to the Aveyron region of France to battle on some of the most beautiful stages in the country before the summer break.

After the cancellation of SS1, Guillaume Canivenq took the lead on the Campouriez - Florentin - Le Nayrac stage. The 2009 French Rally Champion threw down the gauntlet on the longest timed sector of the rally to jump out to a 13.3s lead over Romain Di Fante. The two leaders then set equal time on the following stage. In the afternoon, Romain Di Fante clocked the fastest time on SS4 to take third place from Florian Bernardi, who in turn retook the position when SS5 was neutralised and notional times were given.

Friday ended with a special stage that demonstrated just how competitive the Clio Trophy France Asphalte is, as the top five was separated by just one second at the end of Laissac - Sévérac-l’Eglise. Guillaume Canivenq was third fastest and finished the stage with an advantage of 27.1s over Romain Di Fante, followed by Florian Bernardi, Romain Fostier and Thomas Chauffray at less than 16.3 seconds.

On Saturday, Guillaume Canivenq began to manage his pace after taking a big step towards victory with the best time on SS8, while the battle for second place was in full swing under the impetus of Thomas Chauffray. With two fastest times, including the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage, the winner of the Le Touquet - Pas-de-Calais Rally gained two positions in the morning to move up to third place before taking the lead over Romain Di Fante in the early afternoon.

Guillaume Canivenq went on for the win with a 17.7s margin of victory from Thomas Chauffray, who withstood the comeback of Romain Di Fante by just 0.8s on the final two stages. Florian Bernardi finished 5 seconds adrift off the podium and 14 seconds ahead of Romain Fostier. Thanks to their good times on some of the most difficult stages, Styve Juif, Antoine Massé and Maxime Braesch followed in a top ten completed by Jérémy Sarhy and Damien Mattei. In his first outing of the season, Dominique Patenotte won the Gentlemen category, as did Sarah Filipe in the Female category after Margot Dupuy went off the road on the penultimate stage.

Romain Di Fante now has an 11-point lead In the Clio Trophy France Asphalte general classification over Thomas Chauffray. Styve Juif is up to third ahead of Antoine Massé, Tom Peri and Romain Fostier, while Guillaume Canivenq moves up to seventh place. In the teams’ classification, Europe Location maintains its from Naudon Rallye Services and Fun Meca Sport, while Groupe Bertrand takes command of the Renault Network Challenge.

The Clio Trophy France Asphalte now heads to its summer hiatus before the next round on the calendar, Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine (2-4 September).

Rallye Aveyron Rouergue Occitanie
2021 Clio Trophy France Asphalte
1. Guillaume Canivenq - Bastien Dumas 2h08:07.1s
2. Thomas Chauffray - Pauline Vaultier +17.7s
3. Romain Di Fante - Patrick Chiappe (J) +18.5s
4. Florian Bernardi - Loris Pascaud +23.5s
5. Romain Fostier - Ophelie Abchiche +37.5s
6. Styve Juif - Maxime Biegalke (J) +1:18.5s
7. Antoine Masse - Marc Haddad +1:57.8s
8. Maxime Braesch - Loick Andre (J) +3:11.0s
9. Jeremy Sarhy - Maxime Vilmot (J) +3:21.6s
10. Damien Mattei - Marine Pelamourgues (J) +3:51.5s
11. Tom Pieri - Arnaud Dunand (J) +5:47.3s
12. Tom Rensonnet - Renaud Herman (J) +5:58.3s
13. Cédric Noé – Alex Vignolle +6:00.8s
14. Hugo Micheli - Cyril Laborderie (J) +6:27.5s
15. Sébastien Rambaud - Nicolas Febvre (J) +7:04.5s
16. Benjamin Stirling - Florence Wehrey (J) +7:14.7s
17. Yohan Saillat - Sylvain Kukulka +7:24.0s
18. Bertrand Blondel La Rougery - Yoann Raffaelli (J) +7:56.2s
19. Julien Anthérieu - Valérie Anthérieu (J) +10:56.0s
20. Dominique Patenotte - François Heer (G) +12:05.4s
21. Julien Pontal - Loan Biagetti (J) +13:05.5s
22. Boris Ruffa - Raphaël Ruffa +24:35.4s
23. Sarah Filipe – Quentin Saxemard (J/F) +27:06.9s
Ab. Margot Dupuy - Clio Chambelland (F)
Ab. Cédric Mazenq - Manon Verger
Ab. Valentin Ascenzi - Julien Tramaloni (J)
Ab. Émilien Sanlaville - Amaury Sanlaville (J)
Ab. Francois Fraymouth - Loic Boudaud
Ab. Karl-Alexandre Pinheiro - Romain Garel (J)

Clio Trophy France Asphalte standings - Power Stage standings - Teams standings - Renault Network Challenge