French Rally Cup

Clio Rally3, Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 all shone with a hat-trick of wins on the Rallye du Pays Avallonnais thanks to Thierry Cassard and Mathéo Terret’s Rally3 success, a 1-2 finish in Rally4 led by Sébastien Darin and Andréa Laurent and a sweep of the podium in Rally5 dominated by Axel Delaporte and Clémence Marechal. Renault also starred at the Rallye Jean-Pierre Champeau, with a 1-2 finish for Clio Rally4 thanks to Frédéric and Sabrina Meurant ahead of Philippe and Romain Rageau and a lockout of the top six for Clio Rally5 led by Florian Bartaire and Claire Pallaro.

Several crews took advantage of the weekend to fine-tune their preparations for the start of Clio Trophy France Asphalte. Tom and Frédéric Vauclare won at the Rallye Baldomérien with Clio Rally5, beating Christophe Monnin - Marc-Emilien Choudey and Thomas Santiago - Guillaume Francois. Meanwhile, Jérôme Janny and Aurélien Beaudouin secured the top four class positions for the model at the Rallye de Meuse, followed by the duos of Robin Mercier - Tom Pinchon and Enzo Beschet - Romain Gandré.

Other Clio Rally5 victories included Julien Toniutti and Guillaume Duplan on the Rallye des Côtes du Tarn, Paul and Adèle Dachicourt on the Rallye du Marquenterre and Baptiste and Julie Mallon on the Rallye de Vaison-la-Romaine, where Clio Rally4 claimed a double podium result.

Elsewhere…

All three models also enjoyed success across Europe. Clio Rally3 won its class with Andrea Bernardi and Chiara Battistelli on the asphalt of Rally dei Laghi (Italy), where 11 crews were also in action with Clio Rally5 to launch the new Clio Trophy Italia format. Andrea Nunzio and Sara Nico won their category while finishing 12th overall.

Tim Wacker and Luca Kiefer won in RC5 ahead of three other Clio Rally5s at the ADAC Rallye 70 Kempenich in Germany. Meanwhile, Spain’s Ulises Avella Santana and José Gabriel Espino Guedes dominated their class, finishing in the overall top ten in their Clio Rally5 on the tarmac of the Rally Villa de Santa Brígida in the Canary Islands Rally Championship. Their countrymen Albert Ibars Vergé - Xavier Carulla and Jordi Nualart - Jordi Soldevila also enjoyed podium finishes on the gravel of the Ral.li Rocafort de Vallbona (Spain).

Coming up

This weekend, the Clio Trophy Spain Tierra begins its second season on the special stages of the Rallye Tierra Lorca (9-10 March). Ten teams representing four nationalities will battle to succeed Ramón Cornet Vila as the category’s winner.