From Louis Renault’s first motor racing ventures to the Renault Clio R3T and the many successes of its factory drivers over the decades, Renault has always had a prominent presence in rallying. In the coming weeks, the brand’s future on the special stages will come together with New Clio Rally !

Tradition and modernity

Inheriting the line, versatile chassis and 4-cylinder 1330 cc TCe 16-valve engine from Clio R.S. Line, the new model comes in three versions - Cup, Rally and RX - all optimised thanks to Renault Sport Racing’s longstanding expertise.

Despite a shared basis synonymous with unparalleled accessibility and versatility, each version represents a true racing car specifically designed for its discipline. This will be all the more the case for the FIA Rally5-homologated New Clio Rally, which offers its owners infinite opportunities open to all levels of driving and budgets.

Exceptional potential

After nine months of development and more than 10,000kms of testing, the model designed by the teams at Viry-Châtillon and assembled in the Dieppe factory took top honours in its category right from its competitive debut on Rally Guanajuato Mexico.

Since this victory on one of the most demanding rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship, New Clio Rally has impressed in events such as the French Rally Cup. Buoyed by these encouraging performances, New Clio Rally - like the Cup and RX versions - has been a genuine commercial success with more than 120 vehicles already delivered to customers to fill the service parks and paddocks of the competitions established by Renault Sport Racing around the world.

The Clio Trophy Italia will be the first to kick off next week at Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio (August 22-23) before France and Spain follow at the Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine (September 3-5) and the Rally Princesa de Asturias (September 12-13).

France on point

The 2020 Clio Trophy France season promises to be a record-breaker with 43 crews having already entered for the season.

38 among them are currently fine-tuning their preparations for Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine while more than ten duos will continue on for a final year with the Clio R3T in the Alps Trophy before they prepare their move to New Clio Rally.

In this record field for a single-make in France, several newcomers will try to launch their careers in rallying against experienced gentlemen, former single-seater and circuits drivers as well as some big names in the Clio competitions. Boris Carminati, the last winner of the Clio R3T Trophy France, will compete from time to time to offer a reference to the ambitious young guns on some of the five rounds of the FFSA French Asphalt Rally Championship.

The recipe for the success of the categories organized by Renault Sport Racing will also be preserved as the Viry-Châtillon teams will place technical and sporting fairness at the top of their list of priorities in order to offer an ever more attractive formula.

In this respect, three new challenges will be introduced to boost the competition : the Renault Network Challenge, involving 12 Renault groups, dealerships and agents supporting the crews ; the Teams Trophy, which will pit top national outfits such as Chazel, CHL Sport Auto, Sarrazin Motorsport and many others against each other ; and the "Jean Ragnotti" Power Stage, offering bonus points to the five fastest duos on the longest special stage of the second leg.

At the conclusion of the season, the winner in the general classification will receive a prize of 10,000€ and the top Junior will continue his career with an official programme with Renault Sport Racing in 2021.

So, who will triumph ? The first bits of answer will be given on the evening of Saturday September 5th in Morzine !

2020 CLIO TROPHY FRANCE SEASON ENTRY LIST
Boris Carminati - Maxime Biegalke
Romain Di Fante - Jules Escartefigue
Dorian Nicolas - Guillaume Mercoiret
Alexis Frontier - Jeremy Gulino
Cedric Noe - Alex Vignolle
Ismael Vuistiner - Florinne Krummer
Victor Cartier - Marine Maye
Quentin Ribaud - Melissa Ascensio
Anthony Fotia – TBA
Damien Mattei - Romain Garel
Antoine Masse – TBA
Guillaume Canivenq - Bastien Dumas
Loic Mattei - Dominique Corvi
Julien Baziret - Thomas Chauffray
Remy Jouines - Arnaud Maheo
Brandon Maisano - Pierre Pebeyre
Mathias De Sousa - Marie Corbineau
Jean Jouines - Mathieu Favreau
Romain Fostier - Ophelie Abchiche
Jonathan Grande - Sandrine Guirado
Emilien Sanlaville - Amaury Sanlaville
Sebastien Rambaud - Aurelien Frejefond
Maude Studer - Amelie Pierron
David Erard - Sarah Junod
Boris Ruffa - Raphael Ruffa
Kevin Bessi - Albert Rougemaille
Benjamin Stirling - Florence Wehrey
Ange Marie Damerval - Gilles Cler
Maxime Gibaud - Thibault Glasson-Blanchet
Maxime Braesch - Andre Loick
Giovanni Rossi - Baptiste Volpei
Thierry Monnet - Quentin Saxemard
Maxime Delhommeau - Valentin Goutel
Dominique Patenotte - Nicolas Jeudy
Frederic Perrard - Francois Gilbert
Francois Filippi - Julie Amblard
Alain Aguillon - Sonny Postel
Christophe Nosjean - Victor Joly
Calvin Lucas - Amandine Houry
Franck Megret - Pierrick Boudet
Philippe Rageau - Alexandra Rageau
Thomas Chauffray - Pauline Vaultier
Xavier Quinsac - Jean Fr. De Montredon