Three months after the season opener in Le Touquet, 38 crews were in Gérardmer for the return of the Clio Trophy France Asphalte to the Rallye Vosges Grand Est. The event started with the recce on Thursday, followed by technical and administrative checks and a draw to give away a Michelin tyre to several competitors thanks to Ceerta, the manufacturer’s official distributor in the French Rally Championship.

The rally started in muddy conditions on Saturday morning. Arthur Pelamourgues, victorious in Pas-de-Calais, picked up where he left off, setting the pace in Corcieux to take a 7.3s lead over Julien Deslauriers and relegating Yoan Corberand to 9.2s. Corsican Jean-Claude Pietri set the fastest time on the next special stage before suffering a double puncture, as Julien Deslauriers pulled back to within 2.3s of the leader. However, Arthur Pelamourgues fought back on the first run through Pays d’Ormont to push his rival back to 12.9s.

The gaps narrowed in the afternoon. Maxence Potard set his first fastest times in Corcieux 2 and Hurbache - Moyenmoutier 2 to move up to second place, 1.9s behind Arthur Pelamourgues, but his push was hampered by a small mistake in the day’s final timed sector. Arthur Pelamourgues returned to the service park with a 6.6s advantage over Julien Deslauriers, who, in turn, had an 8.7s margin over Yoan Corberand. Relegated to fourth place, Maxence Potard was ahead of Benjamin Barnouin and SS6 winner Samuel Lay.

Despite overnight showers, the competitors returned on primarily dry roads on Sunday. Yoan Corberand started the day by setting the pace in the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage to claim the maximum ten bonus points on offer. Julien Deslauriers then made his mark on SS8 to reduce his deficit on Arthur Pelamourgues, but the top three order was shaken up in the morning’s final special stage. Yoan Corberand jumped from third to first place to take control ahead of Julien Deslauriers and Arthur Pelamourgues, the fallen leader.

With a lead of 0.6s at the start of the decisive loop, Yoan Corberand put the hammer down on the second pass through La Vologne. Although his rivals hit back in the penultimate test, the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver never wavered and sealed his victory in style with the final stage win. A first-time winner in the trophy, the native of Luxeuil-les-Bains won by a margin of 19.9s over Julien Deslauriers. Third-placed Arthur Pelamourgues did well in the race for an official programme, scoring his second consecutive Junior category win. Maxence Potard finished a personal best fourth place ahead of Samuel Lay, who had a fine run of form on Sunday, winning three consecutive stages. Lucas Zielinski, Benjamin Barnouin, Tom Vauclare, Amaury Facchinetti and Jérôme Janny completed the top ten while Pascal Bérard gradually improved to win in the Gentlemen category.

With a perfect score, Yoan Corberand now leads the Clio Trophy France Asphalte by just one point from Arthur Pelamourgues, still on top of the Junior category. His win also puts Sébastien Loeb Racing atop the teams’ leaderboard, three points clear of PH Sport, and Groupe Bertrand at the top of the Renault Network Challenge. Willy Mathey remains in charge in the Gentlemen category and Charlotte Olea extends her advantage in the Women class.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Stirling continued to impress with Clio Rally3. The Clio Trophy France Asphalte title holder monopolised the fastest times in Rally3 while taking the fight to the Rally2 entries in the French Rally Championship. At their home event, the Sébastien Loeb Racing crew was eighth overall before a small mistake on SS5, which had time-consuming consequences. The Stirlings set off again on Sunday, underlining their potential with seventh best time overall on SS10. Their programme will continue at the Rallye Aveyron Rouergue Occitanie (4-6 July), which will also host round three of the Clio Trophy France Asphalte.

Yoan Corberand : "I don’t know if it’s fair to say that we built this victory, as the pace of the Clio Trophy France Asphalte was so fast this weekend. Saturday was tough with erratic weather and very dirty roads. We had to try to drive fast without making a single mistake because getting caught out in those conditions was very easy. We were very pleased to finish third, 15 seconds behind the leader. On Sunday, tyre choice wasn’t easy as it had rained overnight and, despite the sun, the sky was still very threatening. We took the risk of starting on hard tyres and pushed hard in the Power Stage to win it and halve the gap. We then realised that we could do it and didn’t let up after that. Amélie did an excellent job, and we attacked to get the win. We’d been close with three runner-up finishes for a while, so we’re delighted to have achieved this and, to top it all off, not too far from home ! We had a superb weekend with our friends Arthur and his co-driver, Julien and Amandine. The atmosphere was fantastic, with a real battle in the stages, but not outside. It makes for wonderful memories and excellent times. The next round in Rouergue will be on Arthur’s turf, where we will try to defend our lead and achieve the best possible result for Sébastien Loeb Racing."

Clio Trophy France Asphalte – Rallye Vosges Grand Est
1. Yoan Corberand – Amélie Pierron 2h13m33.5s
2. Julien Deslauriers – Amandine Brunel +19.9s
3. Arthur Pelamourgues – Bastien Pouget (J) +24.1s
4. Maxence Potard – Albin Goutry-André (J) +40.9s
5. Samuel Lay – Thomas Walbrecq (J) +50.4s
6. Lucas Zielinski – Emma Pierrine (J) +1m44.2s
7. Benjamin Barnouin – Romain Garel (J) +2m31.1s
8. Tom Vauclare – Frédéric Vauclare (J) +4m25.2s
9. Amaury Facchinetti – Léo Lhomme (J) +5m55.3s
10. Jérôme Janny – Aurélien Beaudouin +6m50.3s
11. Benjamin Rico – Clara Gordien (J) +7m36.9s
12. Enzo Beschet – Emmanuel Guinchard (J) +9m11.7s
13. Anthony Diel – Yannis Gosselin +9m15.0s
14. Thomas Santiago – Guillaume François (J) +9m28.6s
15. Marc Pompei – Enzo Mahinc (J) +12m16.1s
16. Charlotte Olea – Cécile Pages (J, F) +13m54.5s
17. Pascal Bérard – Caroline Bérard (G) +13m55.3s
18. Willy Mathey – Maëlle Casays (G) +14m20.7s
19. Franck Giraud – Sylvain Guillaume (G) +14m23.5s
20. Nicolas Paviet-Roche – Tony Ponsot +15m15.9s
21. Baptiste Voillaume – Jean-Marc Mulot +15m29.2s
22. Néo Rivallant – Nicolas Blanc (J) +16m06.0s
23. Julien Labonde – Astrid Pinède (J) +16m50.7s
24. Martin Massé – Melvine Pitois (J) +16m57.2s
25. Maxime Krasnobaev – Romain Gavoye (J) +17m04.7s
26. Jean-Pierre Lejeune – Geneviève Arnavielhe (G) +36m03.4s
27. Romain Fostier – Ophélie Abchiche +51m24.1s
28. Frédéric Misiek – Valérie Misiek (G)+1h04m24.3s
Ab. Nicolas Hebrard – Jeanne Rey
Ab. Robin Mercier – Julien Loiseau (J)
Ret. Jean-Claude Pietri – Jean-François Muselli (J)
Ret. Teddy Turco – Bastien Dumas (J)
Ret. Nicolas Vanderweerde – Thierry Closter
Ret. Jacques Bourrat – Jean Bourrat (G)
Ret. Thomas Bordagaray – Brice Ricou
Ret. Andrea Pelini – Jean-Louis Hottelet (J)
Ret. Philippe Janvier – Julie Derory (G)
Ret. Romain Misiek – Thibaut Misiek (J)

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