Clio Trophy Belgium

Pierre-Manuel Brasseur won the penultimate round of the 2023 Clio Trophy Belgium season at the Aarova Oudenaarde Rally. On home soil, Lander Depotter was the first to show his class, dominating the Power Stage before posting four consecutive best times with co-driver Jasper Maelfait. Far from giving up, Pierre-Manuel Brasseur and Maxime Andernack made a fierce comeback to steal victory from their rivals by 6.8 seconds. Xavier Dekeyser and Nelle Tassaert completed the podium ahead of Jeroen Catelin - Thijs Ozeel and Joé Plattes - Andreas Palm following a mistake from Jo Muylle and Dries Deprez.

Lander Depotter and Pierre-Manuel Brasseur will battle for the crown in the season-ending Belgian Rally in Saint-Vith (23 September). The future winner will compete in two rallies at the helm of a Clio Rally3, which excelled on the same roads in the hands of title-holder Benoit Verlinde. Navigated by Anton Dupan, the Belgian scored his second RC3 and Belgian Cup win in as many starts, with a three-minute margin of victory.

More information here.

Clio Trophy Galicia

Clio Trophy Galicia’s inaugural season is in full swing, with a third winner in as many rounds. After Álvaro Méndez and Diego Félix, Gabriel Rodríguez scored his first success on the Rally de Ferrol with co-driver Álvaro Cerqueiras. On the stages near La Coruña, Diego Félix took the lead before crashing out on SS2. Gabriel Rodríguez, from Pontevedra, inherited the lead before pulling away with five best times in seven stages to finish eighth overall and win by nearly a minute and a half ahead of the duo of Joaquín Rasilla - Borja Rasilla and Alberto Rielo - Diogo Rodríguez. With three consecutive podium results, Joaquín Rasilla is now level on points with Diego Félix atop the general classification ahead of the last two rallies on the calendar : Rally Ourense-Ribeira Sacra (15-17 September) and Rally San Froilán (20-22 October).

More information here.

European Rallycross Championship

Transfers from the Clio Ice Trophy, where they contested the title at the beginning of the year, Dylan Dufas and David Bouet caused a stir at the final round of the Euro RX3 in Estering (Germany). Present at the sharp end of the European scene throughout the weekend, the 2019 and 2021 French Junior Rallycross Champions easily reached the final. The two French drivers put in a perfectly controlled performance to claim a double podium finish, which turned into a one-two after one of their competitors was excluded for a technical infringement.

French Rally Cup

On their return behind the wheel of a Clio Rally4, Quentin Ribaud and Mélissa Declerck impressed with fourth place overall on the Rallye des 12 Travaux d’Hercule. The pair won the two-wheel-drive category while leading Clio Rally4 to a sweep of the top four in its category. Meanwhile, Romain Harnois and Gaël Georges won their class among the ten Clio Rally5 entries.

Two additional one-twos came at the Rallye du Pays Saint-Affricain and the Rallye de Saint-Germain-la-Campagne, with Roland Bonnefoy - Virginie Bonnefoy and Joël Lebrun - Elisa Audra, respectively, in Clio Rally4, and Laurent Reboul - Antonin Pomarede and Martin Massé - Melvine Pitois in Clio Rally5.

Clio Rally5 also triumphed in the hands of Jérôme Janny and Virginie Jozefiak on Rallye du Pays Haut, and a hat-trick led by Romain and Guy Wallon on Rallye du Boulonnais, two lockouts of the top four led by Amaury Facchinetti and Léo Lhomme on Rallye du Sel and Axel Delaporte and Clémence Marechal on Rallye d’Autun La Châtaigne, as well as a sweep of the top five led by Florian Bartaire and Marjolaine Patier on Rallye 24 Dordogne Périgord.

And elsewhere

In his debut appearance behind the wheel of a Clio Rally3 with daughter Juliette as co-driver, eight-time Belgian champion Pieter Tsjoen made quite an impression, finishing fourth on Rally van Staden while winning by more than seven minutes in his category. On the same stages, Clio Rally5 scored a hat-trick, led by René Degroote and Danny De Busschere in its class and in VAS Div 1-2.

Clio Rally3 also made its German Rally Championship debut in the hands of Carsten Mohe and Christoph Gerlich. The 2017 national two-wheel drive champion monopolised the fastest times to dominate the RC3 and finish just outside the overall top ten on the ADAC Saarland-Pfalz Rally.

At Barum Czech Rally Zlín, Josef Navrátil and Daniel Hamšík Jr won for the fourth time in seven rallies to consolidate their supremacy on the national RC5 scene and regain control of the Czech Junior Rally Championship. Meanwhile, their compatriots Jan Dvořák and Petr Jindra sealed another success with Clio Rally5 in the Alpe Adria Cup on the Perger Mühlstein Rally (Austria).

Clio Rally5 also won in Denmark, with Jacob Egholm and Sarah Haulrik leading an RC5 hat-trick on the Rally Jylland round of the Danish Rally Championship. Kasper Nyman Andersen and Claus Kammersgaard claimed a class win on the EC Skiring Juelsminde Rallysprint.

In Ireland, Jack Brennan and John McGrath extended their unbeaten run with a ninth consecutive Clio Rally5 class win on the Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally. The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy protégés scored their best overall result of the year. Lastly, the Clio Rally5 of Romanians Catherine Rădulescu and Bogdan Minea won the RC5 class at Rajd Rzeszowski (Poland).

Abroad, Clio Rally5 impressed with two cars in the overall top-five and a one-two in the RC4N class with Jorge Alfaro - Leonardo Fernández and Nadia Lafuente - Sergio Lafuente at Rally de Young, round four of the Uruguayan Championship. Meanwhile, the Clio Rally5 of Javier Arce and Mario Acosta dominated Rally5 while finishing eighth on Rally Pisco (Peru).

Coming up

This week, Clio Trophy France Terre returns to action on Rallye Terre de Lozère (25-27 August) with 29 crews expected. Among the contenders will be leader Jean-Sébastien Vigion, who could seal the title this weekend, and multiple world rally champion Julien Ingrassia, who will share the driving duties with Gilles De Turckheim. Meanwhile, Quentin Ribaud will be back in the Castrol Clio Rally4, while Jérôme Jacquot, Pierre Ragues, Christophe Rocard and Simon Heinemann will line up with Clio Rally3.