Clio Cup Series

One week after returning to competition at Hockenheim, the Clio Cup competitors were back on track at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. David Pouget and Gabriele Torelli were the victors in two races full of surprises. The Frenchman rekindled his bid for the Clio Cup Europe crown while the Italian took the lead in Clio Cup Italia. Meanwhile, Jerzy Spinkiewicz took a brace of wins in the Challengers Cup, as did Stephan Polderman in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup. With the misadventures of many contenders, all the titles are still undecided ahead of the last three meetings of 2022. The first laureates will be known at the next event at Monza (7-9 October), where Clio Cup Europe, Clio Cup Italia and Clio Cup Eastern Europe will be combined.

Clio Trophy France Asphalte

Winner of round four of the season at the Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine, Thomas Chauffray kept his winning streak alive and secured the Clio Trophy France Asphalte title. Patrick Magnou and Styve Juif joined him on the podium. Tom Pieri sealed his position as the best Junior. He will receive an offer of an official French Rally Championship programme in 2023, which will be operated by the team that will be crowned after the Critérium des Cévennes (27-29 October). Also of note are the victories of Mike Souvigné in the Gentlemen’s category and Élodie Gines in the Women’s category. Alongside the trophy, Clio Rally4 took two podium finishes, one in Rally4 with Nicolas Lathion and the other in the French Women’s Rally Championship with Pauline Dalmasso.

Clio Trophy Swiss

Also in the shadows of Mont Blanc, Ismaël Vuistiner scored his second consecutive success in Clio Trophy Swiss. The Swiss driver, who won the previous round in Chablais, took advantage of his competitors’ mistakes to pull away for a 5.7-second margin of victory over Guillaume Girolamo. Yoan Loeffler completed the podium. While Ismaël Vuistiner continues to increase his gap in the general classification, the most challenging work lies ahead in the upcoming rallies. In parallel, Guillaume Girolamo has already secured the 2022 Swiss Junior Rally Championship. The field will meet again at the end of the month for the Rallye du Tessin (30 September - 1 October).

Clio Trophy Spain

At Rally Blendio Princesa de Asturias Ciudad de Oviedo, the Clio Trophy Spain saw its third different crew win in as many rounds contested this season. After Carlos Rodríguez and Unai de La Dehesa, Juan Manuel Mañá dominated the proceedings to take his turn to win by 20.3 seconds ahead of Miguel Garcia. Nicolás Cabanes earned his second podium result of the year, in third place. With the win, Juan Manuel Mañá now leads the general classification, while Unai de la Dehesa still leads the battle for the Beca U24 ahead of Rally Rías Baixas (September 29 - October 1). On the same roads, Jorge Cagiao won in his category and finished in the overall top ten with Clio Rally4 to score valuable points in the Spanish Rally Championship.

Clio Trophy Italia

Clio Trophy Italia headed to Trentino for the 42nd Rallye San Martino di Castrozza, the fourth and penultimate round of its calendar. Alex Ferrari dominated the proceedings to take a convincing win ahead of Giovanni Marco Lanzalaco and Michael Savio, who came third thanks to a consistent performance. The last Clio Trophy Italia event will take place at the 41st Rally Trofeo Villa d’Este ACI Como (20-23 October) after the cancellation of Rally Città di Modena. Giovanni Marco Lanzalaco will arrive with the lead in the general classification, but Andrea Scalzotto and Alex Ferrari could still deprive him of the crown.

Clio Trophy Turkey

Originally scheduled for this summer but postponed due to the risk of forest fires, the Kocaeli Rallisi was the fourth different team to win in the Clio Trophy Turkey so far this season. On the gravel roads around Izmit, Menderes Okur took the lead on SS3 and won six timed sectors later with an almost 15-minute margin over Evren Olcay. Tuncer Sancakli and Nebil Erbil were also in contention for the title but were both forced to retire. Tuncer Sancakli, Menderes Okur, Nabil Erbil and Can Altınok are all separated by four and a half points ahead of the next meeting at Ege Rallisi (14-15 October). Meanwhile, Çelik Çağlayan took Clio Rally4 to the podium in his class while finishing just outside the top ten.

Clio Trophy Ecuador

Juan Carlos Paredes took top honours in round four of Clio Trophy Ecuador at the Rally de Loja. In spite of a 20-second penalty, the Ecuadorian did not waver and won with a 19.0s advantage over Marcelo Toledo and 54.0s over Abraham Feijoo. Alejandro Martínez was atop the general classification at the start. But his fourth-place finish saw him lose the lead to the weekend winner. The title battle remains incredibly close before the next round, Cuenca’s Rally del Azuay (6-8 October).

French Junior Rallycross Championship

A four-time winner this season, Tom Le Jossec could have sealed his title with a consistent weekend in Mayenne. The Brittany native did more than ensure it by dominating all his rivals from the qualifying rounds to the final. Tom Le Jossec succeeds David Bouet as FFSA Junior Champion of France and will move on to Super 1600 in 2023. Second, in the championship, Mathieu Frétin scored his third consecutive podium ahead of Kelig Gouesbet, who cracked the champagne in only his second rallycross event. The final round of 2022 will take place in Dreux (15-16 October).

Coming up

This week Clio Trophy Belgium will be in action at its penultimate meeting of the season on the East Belgian Rally, where the tension between Benoît Verlinde, Casper Nielsen and Jeroen Catelin is expected to intensify. Meanwhile, Spaniard Alejandro Martín Afonso will aim for a fourth consecutive victory on Rally Villa de Teror to take a big step towards the Clio Trophy Canarias title.