French Rally Championship

Clio Trophy France Asphalte title holders Benjamin and Florence Stirling made a strong impression in their second outing with Clio Rally3. The duo monopolised the fastest times in Rally3 on their home round, while more than holding their own with the Rally2s in the French Rally Championship. The Sébastien Loeb Racing crew was in eighth place overall before making a small mistake with time-consuming consequences on SS5. After setting off again on Sunday, Mr and Mrs Stirling again demonstrated their potential with an overall seventh-fastest time on SS10. Their programme continues at the Rallye Aveyron Rouergue Occitanie (4-6 July). On the same roads, Christopher Touvron and Ophélia Chaigne finished runner-up in their category in their Clio Rally4.

Benjamin Stirling : "We had a crazy weekend, and we’re extremely pleased with our performance, with the exception of our little mistake obviously. It only took us one shakedown run to get back into the swing of things, and we quickly readapted to Clio Rally3 in tarmac spec after several rallies with Clio Rally5 on gravel. We set more than decent times against the Rally2s, even more so knowing that we aimed to be somewhere around 15th place and see where we are on roads we are familiar with. We had a great time driving at our home event for the first time since 2021. We’ve improved enormously since then, and it was incredibly motivating to race in the official colours in front of our families, friends and spectators who have followed our progress since the beginning. From the first to the last kilometre, someone was always at the side of the road to cheer us on. A big thank you to the Alpine Racing and Sébastien Loeb Racing teams for all their hard work. The car was at its best from the shakedown to the last special stage. We will never forget this weekend because it was so intense. We intend to make the most of our good fortune right up to the end and go out and claim a strong result because the potential is there !"

Clio Trophy France Asphalte

With four podium finishes since his Clio Trophy France Asphalte debut, Yoan Corberand finally scored his first win in challenging conditions on the Rallye Vosges Grand Est. After an intriguing battle right up to the finish, the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver and co-driver Amélie Pierron won round two of the season, ahead of Julien Deslauriers - Amandine Brunel and Arthur Pelamourgues - Bastien Pouget. With two new winners to date this year, the title race promises to intensify at the Rallye Aveyron Rouergue Occitanie (4-6 July). The Clio Trophy France Asphalte team wishes Philippe Janvier a speedy recovery following his accident on SS2.

More information here.

German Rally Championship

Clio Rally3 continued its fine form on the national scene in Germany with a one-two finish in RC3 and a double overall top ten at the ADAC Mittelrhein Rally thanks to the performances of the Netherlands’ Jim van den Heuvel and Jouri Dockx and Germany’s Carsten Mohe and Clara Bettge. The German tarmac also saw Clio Rally4 perform brilliantly with second place in two-wheel drive for Max Schumann and Kevin Lennartz, not forgetting victory in RC5 for the Clio Rally5 of Denmark’s Michael Sørensen and Ole Refsgaard Frederiksen.

Greek Rally Championship

Clio Rally3 continued to make headlines on gravel, with a hat-trick of Rally3 and C2 class wins for Paschalis Chatzimarkos and Marios Tsaoussoglou on Rally Korinthou (Greece). They also finished fifth overall and were joined on the podium by Cypriots Petros Panteli and Pambos Laos in their Clio Rally3. At the same time, Greece’s Efthimios Halkias and Nikos Komnos put a third Clio in the overall top eight.

French Rally Cup

The Corsican tarmac proved kind to Clio at the Rallye d’Eccica Suaredda, with Jean-Pierre Flori and Julien Bonifet’s Clio Rally4 finishing fourth overall, a class win for Clio Rally3 with Antoine Casabianca and Gilles Cler, and a sweep of the top five for Clio Rally5 led by Florian Barboutan and Lou-Anne Santucci. Meanwhile, Clio Rally3 and Clio Rally5 won the Rallye du Gard, with Gaël Tribouillois - Arnaud Laëtitia and Sylvain Rouquette - Marjorie Mercier, respectively. The Clio Rally5 of Sylvain and Ludovic Pina also won in their Clio Rally5 on the Rallye du Piémont Oloronais.

And elsewhere…

Clio Rally3, Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 completed a superb hat-trick of wins on Rally Valli Ossolane (Italy) with victories for Daniele Nicolini and Fabio Ciamparini in Rally3, Gabriel Di Pietro and Giovanni Maifredini in Rally4 and Alessandro Corsini and Ismaele Barra in Rally5. Clio Rally3 and Clio Rally5 also impressed in Belgium, with Olivier Decoene and François Geerlandt’s Clio Rally3 leading a one-two finish in the 3G class and Alexander Derez and Barbara Vromman leading a lockout of the podium in the 2D category on Rally van Wervik.

Clio Rally4 put in a solid performance on Portuguese tarmac at the Rally Taça Joaquim Santos Penafiel Racing Fest, with Filipe Teixeira and António Campos finishing third overall and first in front-wheel drive.

Clio Rally5 was also successful in several national championships, including in Hungary with László Martin and Krisztián Réb on the Mecsek Rally and in the Czech Republic with Tomáš Štuksa and Ondřej Novák on the Rally Hustopeče. The most-represented model on Rallye San Martino di Castrozza e Primiero (Italy), Clio Rally5 won its class with Federico Francia and Stefano Costi, as well as the Women’s category with the Turkish duo of Nazan Zorlu and Ozhan Ciplak. Still in Italy, Nicolò Ardizzone and Alyssa Anziliero lad a first through sixth place result for Clio Rally5 on the Rally di Reggello - Città di Firenze, where the crew also won in the Junior class. At the same time, Emanuele and Giuseppe La Torre led a Clio Rally5 top four on the Rallye dei Nebrodi.

Coming up

Rallying will again take centre stage this weekend with round three of the Italian Junior Rally Championship and its all-Renault Clio Rally5 service park on the Rally di San Marino. The crews competing in Clio Trophy Portugal and Clio Trophy Galicia will also battle in round two of their respective calendars at the Rali de Castelo Branco and the Rallye Pazo Tizón-Comarca do Carballiño. Meanwhile, the Clio RXs of the French Junior Rallycross Championship will be in action at Châteauroux.