French Gravel Rally Championship

Crowned in the Clio Trophy France Terre last month, Jean-Sébastien Vigion claimed the French Gravel Two-Wheel Drive Rally title at the Rallye Terre de Vaucluse this weekend. With co-driver Amandine Borderie, the Vigion Promosport driver lost out to the other Clio Rally5 of Tom Pellerey and Hervé Faucher in the battle for Rally5 victory but scored the points he needed to clinch the championship.

Quentin Ribaud, who achieved an identical double in 2021, was brilliant with Mélissa Declerck and Clio Rally3. With four top-five times from the nine stages contested, the driver from Vaucluse was up there with the best on the national scene with cars from the higher categories, finishing fifth overall. He claimed his fifth win of the season in Rally3 on home soil and his second overall top five with the model on French gravel.

Clio Cup Series

Clio Cup Series super-winner David Pouget didn’t waver at the 13th and final meeting of the season. Although his rival Gabriele Torelli won twice on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the driver from Albi secured further crowns by maintaining his lead in Clio Cup Europe and beating Nicolas Milan in the Clio Cup France title race. Meanwhile, Spaniard Adrian Schimpf was crowned champion on home soil in the Clio Cup España. Dutchman Rene Steenmetz and Frenchman Florian Venturi won the final titles at stake, namely the Racers Cup in Clio Cup Europe and the Challengers Cup in Clio Cup France.

More information here.

French Rally Cup

There were numerous successes on the French stages, starting with those achieved by Clio Rally3 with Laurent Papi and Jean-Michel Perrin and Clio Rally5 with Arthur Pelamourgues and Julien Sabatier on the Rallye du Pays Rignacois. Clio Rally4 also claimed a double podium with Jean-Baptiste Daune - Nicolas Valici and Didier Dalmasso - Xavier Blanc, and Clio Rally5 swept the podium with Xavier Quinsac and Allison Viano leading the way on the Rallye du Haut-Pays Niçois. Clio Rally5 won its class with Cédric Secondi and Léa Tromelin on the Rallye Mare è Machja.

And elsewhere

In Germany, all three Clio models won at the ADAC Rallye Köln-Ahrweiler. Dutchmen Edwin and Ingrid Wolves also led Clio Rally3 to an overall fifth place in an event where Max Schumann and Kevin Lennartz triumphed with Clio Rally4 in RC4 and Danes Michael Sørensen and Mads Dalsager with Clio Rally5 in RC5. In Italy, it was an identical treble with Maurizio Santalucia and Gianni Melani in Rally3, Gianandrea Pisani and Elena Neri in Rally4 and Daniele Pirovano and Roberta Steffani in Rally5 at the Special Rally Circuit by Vedovati Corse held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. At the same event, Francesco Paccagnella and Roberto Mometti won the under-18 category with Clio Rally5.

Clio Rally4 also won in Portugal, with Emanuel Martins and Cristiano Freitas leading the P2-4 class at the Rampa Regional Paul do Mar. Clio Rally5 won its class at Rally del Brunello (Italy) with Slovenians Borut Prosenc and Matej Debeljak. Their compatriots Martin Čendak and Jakob Markežič did the same at Rally Idrija (Slovenia), concluding the 2023 Croatian and Slovenian Rally Championship season. Meanwhile, Clio Rally5 also won with Dutchmen John Coumans and Frank Stultiens on Rally van Zuid-Limburg (Belgium), Oliver Sørensen and Preben Jensen on Rally Vestjylland (Denmark), Andrea De Nunzio and Sara Nico on Rally 2 Laghi - Rally dell’Ossola (Italy) and Petar Yordanov and Lyubka Yordanova on Rally Sprint Pamporovo (Bulgaria).

Coming up

This week, the action continues in Spain with the final rounds of Clio Trophy Galicia at the Rallye Ribeira Ría de Arousa (17-18 November) and Clio Trophy Canarias at the Rallye Isla de Tenerife (17-18 November). In Galicia, Diego Félix and José Joaquín Rasilla will battle for the title, whilst on the Canary Islands, Héctor Mederos, Noé Armas, and Manuel Hernández will battle for the title. Meanwhile, Clio Rally5 will be chasing another WRC victory with the duo of Mitsuhiro Kunisawa and Masahiko Kihara on Forum8 Rally Japan (16-19 November).