FIA World Rally Championship

Clio Rally5 scored its 17th world championship success in the hands of Marc Dessi. Co-driven by Italy’s Mattia Pastorino, he avoided the hazards of a Rally Italia Sardegna marked by some of the toughest and tricky conditions in the WRC in recent years. Combining performance and consistency, the Monegasque snatched victory from Croatia’s Slaven Šekuljica and Damir Petrović, who crashed out on the penultimate stage.

Clio Trophy France Terre

Last year’s Clio Trophy France Asphalte winner in the Junior category, Tom Pieri claimed his maiden Clio Trophy France Terre win, brilliantly overcoming all the challenges of the inaugural Rallye Terre d’Aleria. Victorious in Corsica ahead of Matteo Chatillon - Maxence Cornuau and Benjamin Boulenc - Chloé Barozzi-Gauze, the Marseilles native and co-driver Alexis Maillefert have narrowed the gap to next to nothing from Trophy leader Jean-Sébastien Vigion before the summer break and the Rallye Terre de Lozère (25-27 August).

Meanwhile, Clio Rally3 excelled in this new event, finishing fourth overall with Quentin Ribaud and Mélissa Declerck. The Fun Meca Sport team completed a sweep of the top three spots in RC3 for Clio Rally3, with Henri-Marc Venturini - Gilles De Turckheim and Pierre Ragues - Julien Pesenti also finishing. Lastly, Florian Bouchonneau and Jeanne Rey made light of a complicated weekend to claim third place in RC4 and remain in the race for the national two-wheel drive title with the Clio Rally4 in Castrol colours.

More information here.

Clio Trophy Spain Tierra

Winners of the opening round of Clio Trophy Spain Tierra, Ramón Cornet and Daniel Noguer doubled their tally on Rallye Reino de León. Leading from start to finish, the Brunet Competition duo dominated proceedings with six fastest times to take victory by more than a minute over Clio Trophy Spain title holders Miguel García and Osel Román. Third-placed Aritz Iriondo and Joseba Sánchez scored their best result in the field of twelve, including Juan Carlos Paredes and Daniel Gordillo, who won the Clio Trophy Ecuador last year. With his latest success, Catalan Ramón Cornet extends his advantage over Miguel García to 20 points ahead of Rally Princesa de Asturias (8-9 September).

More information here.

And elsewhere

Clio Rally5 continued its fine form in the French Rally Cup, with Damien Gouttefangeas and Aurélien Chazelle winning the Rallye des Vins Mâcon, as did Arnaud Marcillac and Pauline Gely on the Rallye de Saint-Geniez-d’Olt, Loic Dagna and Karine Hernandez on the Rallye du Laragnais, Romain Wallon and Maxime Daszuk on the Rallye du Tréport and Jérôme Janny and Aurélien Beaudouin on the Rallye des Ardennes.

In Switzerland, Clio Rally4 impressed on the Rallye du Chablais, with Cédric Moulin and Éric Bigler taking victory in RC4 and Romanians Alexandru Filip and Gabriel Lazar winning in ERT 2WD. At the same event, Philippe Broussoux and Sandrine Kaltenrieder led a one-two-three result for Clio Rally5 in its category.

Meanwhile, at the ELE Rally, Jeroen Klein Kromhof and Jouri Dockx took their second consecutive victory with Clio Rally4 in the Clio Rally Trophy held in the Netherlands. John Coumans and Renaldo Lier finished fourth in the competition, and their Clio Rally5 finished in the top ten in round two of the Dutch Rally Championship.

Clio Rally4 also performed well, with Grzegorz Bonder and Paweł Pochroń finishing on the podium in the Polish Two-Wheel Drive Championship at the Rajd Podlaski and Uruguay’s Luigi Contin and Martín Villete in the Argentine Rally Championship at the Rally de la Rioja. Lastly, Clio Rally5 also starred on Czech asphalt with a lock-out of the top five in RC5 led by Jaroslav Petráš and Petr Jindra on Rally Plzeň, where Václav Tošner and Tomáš Kocour also finished second in RC4 I.

Coming up

This week, the Clio Trophy Belgium drivers will contest round three of their campaign at the inaugural Rallye de Bertrix (10 June). The protagonists of Clio Trophy Galicia will also be in action at the Rallye Sur do Condado (7-9 June).