Italian Junior Rally Championship & Clio Trophy Italia

ACI Rally Monza hosted the final round of the Italian Junior Rally Championship, with a field entirely composed of Clio Rally5s prepared by Motorsport Italia. In muddy conditions on the mixed stages of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Marco Zanin and Massimo Moriconi scored their second consecutive victory after winning the previous event at Rallye Sanremo. Meanwhile, Davide Pesavento put in a strong drive to secure second place with co-driver Matteo Zaramella and clinch a title that was in his grasp as soon as his rivals Igor Iani and Nicola Puliani retired on SS6.

Edoardo De Antoni was the fastest on Michelin tyres in the Clio Rally5. The Italian thus claimed his fourth Clio Trophy Italia success in five starts, beating Simone Sabatella and Nancy Dragonetti to the title just a few weeks after being crowned in his category in the International Rally Cup.

More information here.

Peruvian Rally Championship

Three Clio Rally5 crews lined up for the Peruvian Rally Championship season finale, the Rally Libertad Americana. Wilson Jhonathan and Wilson Diego Garay were the fastest in their class, finishing in the overall top ten in the first event on the gravel stages of Ayacucho. The following day, the duo controlled their pace against the similar model of Javier Arce and Mario Acosta to secure the national Rally5 title.

Clio Cup Middle East

Clio Cup Italia racer Francesco Miotto set the fastest time of the official Clio Cup Middle East pre-season test day. The Italian eclipsed Eduardo Miranda whilst Germany’s Alex Renner was fastest in the Gentlemen’s category and Great Britain’s Charlotte Simmonds was fastest in the Challengers class at the Dubai Autodrome ahead of the season-opener later this week.

And elsewhere

Thomas and Pauline Chauffray scored another victory with Clio Rally3, finishing just off the overall podium on the Rallye de Pont-l’Evêque. Victorien Houyelle and David Hemery made it a one-two for the model in its class and group, while Antoine Massé and Marc Haddad led Clio Rally5 to success in the same round of the French Rally Cup. Also in France, Victorien Rat and Loris Valliend-Ducret led a one-two finish for Clio Rally5 at the Cévennes Race Track, a timed demo show where Le Tone discovered the car at the Pôle Mécanique Alès Cévennes.

In Spain, Clio Rally5 also won in the hands of Vitalii Antonov and Andris Mālnieks on Rally Ciudad de Valencia, the final round of the Spanish Asphalt Rally Cup, whilst Petr Turkin and Vasily Mirkotan secured a class podium with Clio Rally4 and finished just outside the overall top ten. Lastly, Clio Rally4 was also on a two-wheel drive podium with Ján Kundlák and Jaroslav Došek at the Pražský Rallysprint (Czech Republic).

Meanwhile, Mauro Polderman won his first race in a Clio Cup in the Spanish Endurance Championship on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Having honed his skills in the Clio Ice Trophy last winter, the fifteen-year-old Dutch driver - son of experienced Clio Cup driver Stephan Polderman - dominated the D4 category from the free practice sessions to the two-hour race, also taking Class 3 top honours with AST Competition in the process.

Coming up

Clio Cup Middle East will officially launch its second season at Yas Marina Circuit (Abu Dhabi) this week. Nineteen competitors representing eleven nationalities and eight teams will attempt to succeed Jerzy Spinkiewicz, who won the inaugural edition earlier this year. Meanwhile, Clio Rally3, Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 will all be in action in several rallies across Europe.