Clio Trophy Italia

The Clio Trophy Italia drew to a close at the Rally Trofeo Villa d’Este ACI Como. Giovanni Marco Lanzalaco and Antonio Marchica started as leaders, but Andrea Scalzotto - Nicola Rutigliano and Alex Ferrari - Stefano Costi could still steal the crown. However, Gianluca Rao and Christian Zeppegno jumped into the lead from the SS1. They won every stage but two, the last of which went to Giovanni Marco Lanzalaco. Second at the finish, Giovanni Marco Lanzalaco sealed his title whilst Alex Ferrari finished runner-up in the general classification ahead of Andrea Scalzotto, fourth this weekend ahead of Yoan Loeffler - Mathieu Coppa and Corrado Peloso - Paolo Carrucciu.

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RallyRACC

RallyRACC Catalunya - Rally de España hosted the penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship and the FIA European Rally Championship season-finale.

In the World Rally Championship, the Italian crew of Paolo Raviglione and Alessandro Rappoldi took the lead in their class on SS6 before delivering Clio Rally5 its 12th victory in 13 WRC appearances. Meanwhile, the Clio Rally4 of Alejandro Mauro Sánchez and Diego Sanjuan de Eusebio finished fourth despite 11 top-three finishes in 19 stages.

In Europe, Andrea Mabellini completed his official Clio Rally4 programme won with his Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT title with an overall top-ten finish. Second in FIA ERC4 and FIA ERC4 Junior, the Italian co-driven by Virginia Lenzi finished his season in third overall, just nine points adrift of the winner.

Elsewhere

In France, Clio Rally5 was the most represented model at the start of the Rallye d’Automne Charente-Maritime with 11 crews taking part. Clio Trophy France Terre round-winner, Mattéo Chatillon and Maxence Cornuau won their class by more than seven minutes on the Charente asphalt. Meanwhile, the maiden edition of Rallye di e Strade Vecchie in Corsica saw Loïc de la Taste and Paul-Vincent Casanova lead a Clio Rally5 sweep of the top four in its category. Kévin Duc and Séverine Chamiot-Maitral also won the Rallye National de l’Epine - Avant Pays Savoyard while Jean-Baptiste Daune - Marc Bernardi and Allison Viano - Guylaine Therry led Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 to top honours on the Rallye de la Croisette.

Clio Rally5 was not far from the podium in 4/12 at the Rallye des Hautes Fagnes (Belgium) with Jordan Beaupain and Renaud Herman, while the model dominated the action in Italy at Rally di Caltanissetta e del Vallone with Cristian La Ferla and Giulia Menerella and at Rally delle Colline Metallifere e della Val di Cornia with Paolo Abatecola and Luigi Aliberto.

Clio Rally4 also put in two remarkable performances in Germany and Slovakia. On the other side of the Rhine, Nico Knacker and Linus Noll finished fourth overall on the Visselhöveder ADAC Herbstrallye while winning among the front-wheel drive competitors. At Garrett Rally Košice, Poland’s Grzegorz Bonder and Paweł Pochroń also mixed it up with the four-wheel-drive cars, finishing just outside the top ten while winning in classes 4, 5 and CEZ3... And among the two-wheel-drive cars in the Polish and Slovakian championships !

Coming up

This week, the Clio Trophy France Asphalte will wrap up at the Critérium des Cévennes (27-29 October). Among the 40 crews taking part, Thomas Chauffray should secure the title, as should Ton Pieri in the Junior category, while many awards - including in the team category - are still up for grabs.

Clio Trophy Canarias will resume after the postponement last month of Rally Villa de Teror due to poor weather conditions. The competitors will meet again at Rally de Maspalomas (28-29 October) for the fourth round of 2022, where Alejandro Martín Afonso will attempt to take a big step towards the title with a fourth consecutive win.