French Gravel Rally Championship

Round two of the French Gravel Rally Championship, the Rallye Castine Terre d’Occitanie was the scene of yet another success for Clio Rally3. While Michaël Lobry - Gaëtan Parade and Julien Pontal - Patrick Chiappe impressed by mixing it up with the four-wheel drive cars with several overall top ten stage times, the former crew won in RC3 and finished tenth overall. Jérôme Jacquot - Jean-Christophe Delcambre and Guillaume Tardy - Victor Bellotto completed an all Clio Rally3 podium. Quentin Ribaud and Loan Biagetti were also on hand to validate future developments in real conditions under the supervision of the Alpine Racing teams, with the Clio Rally3 development car running as the zero car.

Clio Trophy France Terre

Mika Rasoamaromaka made history by becoming the first non-French driver to win the Clio Trophy France Terre. With co-driver Bastien Pouget, the Madagascar native showed all his potential by masterfully navigating an extremely tricky event to win the Rallye Castine Terre d’Occitanie ahead of Tom Pellerey and Hervé Faucher, who still lead the general classification. His twin brother Faniry Rasoamaromaka and François Heer joined them on the podium. The next round will be held in Aleria on the island of Corsica (May 23-25).

More information here.

Clio Trophy Canarias

For the third year running, the Rallye Islas Canarias hosted the opening round of the Clio Trophy Canarias. 2023 runner-ups Noé Armas and co-driver Alejandro Falcón claimed their second consecutive victory in the event. The Escudería Maspalomas duo led early on, then took the lead for good on SS6 to win by 31.1s. Iván Cabrera and Rayco Almeida won the duel for second place by 7.6s from Víctor Valido and Emilio Pérez. Clio Trophy Canarias will be back in action on 31 May and 1 June for round two of the Rallye Isla de Gran Canaria season.

More information here.

National championships

With their Clio Rally3, Carsten Mohe and Christoph Gerlich scored their second consecutive success in the German Rally Championship on the ADAC ACTRONICS Rally Sulingen. Competing with several Rally2s, the crew finished 1.3 seconds outside the overall top ten. On the same roads, Clio Rally4 finished on the two-wheel drive podium with the Swedish duo of Simon Andersson and Jörgen Jönsson in third place.

Clio Rally5 also put on a solid display at the Međimurski Rally, where Emanuel Idjaković and Aleksandra Devunić finished 10.3 seconds adrift of the overall podium while winning the Junior category in the Croatian Rally Championship. Meanwhile, Clio Rally5 swept the top four places in its class on Rally Bianco Azzuro (San Marino), led by Cesare Gabellini and Daiana Darderi. At the same time, Erica Ranalli and Valentina Pasini won the Women’s category.

French Rally Cup

In France, Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 were both victorious at the Rallye du Morbihan, with Thomas Bordagaray and Samuel Passetemps winning Rally4 and Arthur Le Boudouil and Théo Pallu winning Rally5. Similarly, Clio Rally5 also locked out the top four in its category on the Rallye du Beaufortain, led by Nicolas Paviet-Roche and Mylène Richard. Meanwhile, Pierre and Arthur Barral won Rally5 at the Rallye de Lorraine.

And elsewhere…

Clio Rally3 added another highlight to its honours list in Italy, with Swiss driver Jean-Albert Ferrez and his French co-driver Pierre Boiron winning the RC3 class on Rally Valle d’Aosta. The event also saw eighteen Clio Rally5s reach the finish line, with Swiss Kim Daldini and Italian Pietro D’Agostino winning in R5. The model also won the Bernard Degroote Monteberg Rally (Belgium). Ninth overall, Ben van de Laar and Marlon Krieger dominated both the Dutch Clio Trophy Rally and the 3G class, while Nard Ippen and Mark Bierbooms won the 2D category with Clio Rally5.

Clio Rally4 continued its fine form at the Rali Município de São Vicente with a third consecutive one-two finish, led by Vasco Silva Jr. and Tiago Fernandes, in the Madeira Rally Championship this season. Only beaten by Rally2 cars, the pair finished on the doorstep of the overall podium, while Rui Jorge Fernandes and João Pedro Freitas finished just behind, fifth overall.

Clio Rally5 was not to be outdone, with a superb one-two finish overall on Rally Reto San José to kick off the West Mexican Rally Championship. The Clio Rally5, entered by Patrice and Gilles Spitalier, won the event ahead of the other Clio Rally5, entered by Char García and Eduardo Solís, who were victorious in the Novice category. There were also class wins on the Iberian Peninsula, with Rubén Muñoz and Javier Martínez at Ral.li Ciutat de Valls (Spain), Salvador España and Alejandro Castillejo at Rally de Gibralfaro (Spain) and António Veiga and Francisco Martins at Rali de Santo Tirso (Portugal). Lastly, there were RC5 wins for Marco Thomas and Paul Gehbauer on the Birkenfelder ADAC Löwenrallye (Germany), Javier Arce and Mario Acosta on the Premio Presidente de la Republica (Peru) and the Italians Francesco and Marco Paccagnella on the Krško track (Slovenia).

Coming up

This week, Hockenheim hosts round three of the Clio Cup Series and Clio Cup France calendar, as well as the first weekend of the Clio Cup Mid-Europe. On the rally routes, all eyes will be on the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, where three Clio Rally3s will be entered with Ghjuvanni Rossi, Tom Pieri and Mattéo Chatillon, all three of whom have come from the ranks of Clio Trophy France. Two Clio Rally4s will also be present, including one driven by Gonçalo Henriques, the reigning Portuguese two-wheel-drive Rally Champion. The three rally versions of the Clio will also be in action at other rally events in the hands of privateers, including the Rallye Antibes Côte d’Azur as part of the French Rally Championship.