As at the Rallye Le Touquet Pas-de-Calais, the Clio Trophy France Asphalte service park will be packed with 38 Renault Clio Rally5s for its return to the Rallye Vosges Grand Est, three years after its last appearance on this round of the French Rally Championship.

Victorious on the roads of northern France, Arthur Pelamourgues is aiming for a second consecutive win to move clear at the top of the general classification. However, the Fun Meca Sport team leader is a newcomer to the Vosges special stages, unlike his closest rival Yoan Corberand, a multiple-class winner in this event, including last year in Rally5. The Luxeuil-les-Bains native hopes to win again on home soil to reaffirm his title aspirations.

The Sébastien Loeb Racing driver will be far from alone in his bid to dislodge leader Arthur Pelamourgues. Several Junior category drivers have their sights set on Gérardmer. On the podium at Le Touquet, Jean-Claude Pietri aims to confirm his strong start to the season while Lucas Zielinski and Andrea Pelini are keen to improve upon their top-five finishes on their debuts. The first non-French driver to win a Jean Ragnotti Power Stage, Belgian Samuel Lay is just as ambitious, just like Martin Massé and Enzo Beschet, determined to establish themselves even further up the ranks.

Nicolas Hebrard, Jérôme Janny and Néo Rivallant, who all finished in the top ten in the Hauts-de-France region, are others to watch closely. Meanwhile, Nicolas Vanderweerde, Anthony Diel, Robin Mercier and Amaury Facchinetti hope to score points. Marc Pompei and Julien Labonde are both out for a better result than Le Touquet, a situation shared by many contenders keen to bounce back after using up their first joker. Among them are Julien Deslauriers, leader in Le Touquet before crashing out, Romain Fostier, as well as Juniors Benjamin Barnouin, Tom Vauclare, Maxence Potard, Thomas Santiago, Teddy Turco, Maxime Krasnobaev, Romain Misiek and Charlotte Oléa.

Willy Mathey arrives in Gérardmer atop the Gentlemen category after his season-opening success. The PH Sport driver targets a similar showing to distance himself from his rivals, Philippe Janvier and Franck Giraud, while Frédéric Misiek and Jean-Pierre Lejeune are eager to make up lost ground. The Vosges also marks the return of Pascal Bérard, always a tough contender in this class, and the trophy debut of Jacques Bourrat, one of the most experienced competitors with six starts to his name in the Vosges.

Lastly, Thomas Bordagaray makes his Clio Trophy France Asphalte debut after several victories in the French Rally Cup with Clio Rally4. Benjamin Rico and Baptiste Vouillaume are two other new faces in a field which sees Nicolas Paviet-Roche back in action for the first time since the 2023 Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine.

Meanwhile, title holder Benjamin Stirling takes on the second round of his official Clio Rally3 programme. The Sébastien Loeb Racing driver and co-driver Florence Stirling are contesting their home rally to confirm their promising four-wheel drive debut. The crew will be decked out in the Castrol colours, a long-standing partner of Renault’s customer racing activities. Two Clio Rally4s will also be in action, making Renault the most represented brand in the FFSA French Rally Championship again.

The 39th Rallye Vosges Grand Est kicks off on Saturday with a three-stage loop, to be repeated in the afternoon. On Sunday, the competitors will tackle three more timed sectors twice, starting with La Vologne, the longest special stage at 26.02km and the scene of the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage with up to ten bonus points on offer. The 12 special stages will total 210.54 kilometres out of a 561.28 km route.

Entry list
#34 Arthur Pelamourgues – Bastien Pouget (J)
#35 Yoan Corberand – Amélie Pierron
#36 Lucas Zielinski – Emma Pierrine (J)
#37 Jean-Claude Pietri – Jean-François Muselli (J)
#38 Andrea Pelini – Jean-Louis Hottelet (J)
#39 Samuel Lay – Thomas Walbrecq (J)
#40 Julien Deslauriers – Amandine Brunel
#41 Martin Massé – Melvine Pitois (J)
#42 Romain Fostier – Ophélie Abchiche
#43 Maxence Potard – Albin Goutry-André (J)
#44 Enzo Beschet – Emmanuel Guinchard (J)
#45 Nicolas Hebrard – Jeanne Rey
#46 Benjamin Barnouin – Romain Garel (J)
#47 Jérôme Janny – Aurélien Beaudouin
#48 Tom Vauclare – Frédéric Vauclare (J)
#49 Nicolas Vanderweerde – Thierry Closter
#50 Néo Rivallant – Nicolas Blanc (J)
#51 Anthony Diel – Yannis Gosselin
#52 Robin Mercier – Julien Loiseau (J)
#53 Amaury Facchinetti – Léo Lhomme (J)
#54 Marc Pompei – Enzo Mahinc (J)
#55 Maxime Krasnobaev – Romain Gavoye (J)
#56 Thomas Santiago – Guillaume François (J)
#57 Thomas Bordagaray – Brice Ricou
#58 Benjamin Rico – Clara Gordien (J)
#59 Nicolas Paviet-Roche – Tony Ponsot
#60 Teddy Turco – Bastien Dumas (J)
#61 Pascal Bérard – Caroline Bérard (G)
#62 Jacques Bourrat – Jean Bourrat (G)
#63 Willy Mathey – Maëlle Casays (G)
#64 Philippe Janvier – Julie Derory (G)
#65 Franck Giraud – Sylvain Guillaume (G)
#66 Charlotte Olea – Cécile Pages (J, F)
#67 Julien Labonde – Astrid Pinede (J)
#68 Frédéric Misiek – Valérie Misiek (G)
#69 Romain Misiek – Thibaut Misiek (J)
#70 Jean-Pierre Lejeune – Geneviève Arnavielhe (G)
#71 Baptiste Voillaume – Jean-Marc Mulot