Twelve months after welcoming the competitors in the snow, the Causses offered milder conditions to launch season three of the Clio Trophy France Terre. With a record-breaking field of 39 Clio Rally5s, Julien Deslauriers, Mika Rasoamaromaka, John Laroche, and Lilian Vialle became the first winners in the draw organised by Ceerta, the official Michelin Motorsport distributor of the French Rally Championship. The four drivers each won a Michelin LTX Force T XL92 tyre - the compulsory tyre for the trophy - in addition to a starting bonus of one tyre for all the drivers entered.

Under threatening skies on Saturday, Tom Pieri was the first to strike. Overcoming his lack of experience on gravel, the best Junior in the 2022 Clio Trophy France Asphalte set the fastest time on Foissac - La Bouyssière. Second in SS1, Julien Pontal answered by winning the following two stages, including the longest of the event, to take an 8.9s lead over Mattéo Chatillon, second in SS2 and SS3, while Patrick Magnou, Tom Pieri and Jean-Sébastien Vigion were in the mix.

The afternoon provided many surprises due to strong spring showers. First in the stages, Julien Pontal had to deal with puddles on the line left by the four-wheel drive cars. Mattéo Chatillon took advantage to steal the lead with the best times in SS4 and SS5, but he suffered a puncture when he hit a stone in the next timed sector. Meanwhile, Jean-Sébastien Vigion set a blistering time to jump to the top of the order with a 22.9s lead from Laurent Reuche and 27.9s ahead of Tom Pieri, who was followed closely by an extremely dense chase group.

After overnight showers, the gaps tightened on Grotte de Foissac - Montsalès, with the Malagasy twins Mika and Faniry Rasoamaromaka setting the pace before Mattéo Chatillon scored the maximum ten bonus points on the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage. Despite some problems in SS8, Jean-Sébastien Vigion began the final loop with a 17.6s lead over Tom Pieri, with Julien Portal third at 19.6s, but the latter saw his hopes vanished after he went off the road in the penultimate stage.

Extending his lead to nearly half a minute, Jean-Sébastien Vigion held on to eventually beat Tom Pieri by 18.4s. Winner in the Junior category, Tom Pieri clocked the best time in SS10 to fend off Gentleman class winner Laurent Reuche. Julien Deslauriers wrested fourth place from Faniry Rasoamaromaka in the last kilometres to make it four teams in the top four. Matteo Chatillon finished sixth ahead of Jean-Paul Monnin, Baptiste Panissié, Florian Condamines and Bastien Bergounhe among the 30 crews at the finish.

With his victory, Jean-Sébastien Vigion takes the lead in the general classification, while his performance combined to Johan Grès’ points see Vigion Promo Sport take the points-lead among the teams. Meanwhile, Garage Deletre is the first Renault Network Challenge leader this season.

Title holder Florian Bouchonneau got his official Clio Rally4 programme off to an ideal start by winning the two-wheel drive category. Co-driven by Jeanne Rey and assisted by Fun Meca Sport, the Frenchman drove an intelligent rally and progressively widened the gap. With five fastest times and one for Simon Heinemann, Clio Rally4 secured a 1-2 and once again confirmed its status as the reference in its category. Winner of the inaugural Clio Trophy France Terre season in 2021, Quentin Ribaud was also in action in the Causses. Driving the Clio Rally3, which ran as a zero car, the driver from Cavaillon discovered and enjoyed all the efficiency of the new model’s four-wheel drive in varying conditions throughout the weekend.

The next event on the calendar will take the Clio Trophy France Terre crews to the Rallye Terre de Castine (5-7 May).

Jean-Sébastien Vigion : "I didn’t expect this ! With 39 competitors at the start and the fact that I hadn’t driven Clio Rally5 for some time, I was aiming for a finish of between fifth and tenth place. Even though I know the car, I did have to reacquaint myself with it, put aside my four-wheel drive reflexes and get back into the rhythm. I built up my rally in the right way as needed on gravel, I didn’t panic and put all the parameters in place step by step. The weather conditions were slightly in our favour on Saturday afternoon, but I nearly lost it all on Sunday morning. In the end, I enjoyed myself as I do every time I get behind the wheel of this Clio Rally5, which is truly magical. I would also like to mention the excellent work of Amandine, who was perfect in and out the cockpit despite her young age. I’m also happy for my small team. My father and I do all the work on the cars. I had so much fun that Amandine and I decided on the final road section to go to the Castine, and we will take the rallies one at a time ! It was also amazing to see Clio Rally3 every morning in the service park. I was lucky enough to be involved in the development of Clio Rally5, Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally3. Congratulations to all the technical teams responsible for these three great cars. And when you know what Clio Rally5 and Clio Rally4 can do, I think we’ll be hearing a lot about Clio Rally3 !"

Clio Trophy France Terre - Rallye Terre des Causses
1. Jean-Sébastien Vigion – Amandine Borderie 1h53:56.5
2. Tom Pieri – Alexis Maillefert (J) +18.4
3. Laurent Reuche – Marie-Noëlle Ratier (G) +19.4
4. Julien Deslauriers – Amandine Brunel +47.5
5. Faniry Rasoamaromaka – Baptiste Langlois (J) +50.1
6. Mattéo Chatillon – Maxence Cornuau (J) +1:22.8
7. Jean Paul Monnin – Franck Gilliot +1:38.0
8. Baptiste Panissie – Gaël Lavernhe (J) +1:41.8
9. Florian Condamines – Damien Jole +1:42.7
10. Bastien Bergounhe – Mathieu Descharne (J) +2:25.8
11. Patrick Magnou – Anthony Vilanova +2:31.1
12. Aurélien Devanthery – Gaël Delasoie +2:48.7
13. Alexandre Gransagne – Loïc Maurel +3:14.1
14. Loic de la Taste – Patrick Chiappe (J) +4:13.2
15. Benjamin Boulenc – Chloé Barozzi-Gauze +5:43.2
16. Anthony Rovina – Kylian Sarmezan (J) +6:24.5
17. Lilian Vialle – Manuel Ghirardello (G) +6:59.6
18. Davy Vanneste – Kris d’Alleine +7:37.0
19. Emmanuel Guinchard – Kilian Guinchard (G) +8:04.5
20. Johan Gres – Bastien Dumas +8:08.7
21. Sylvain Tamisier – Mathieu Tamisier +8:13.4
22. Vincent Favre-Miville – Cédric Causse +9:11.7
23. Thomas Mouysset – Lucas Gineste (J) +9:21.0
24. Jean-Laurent Chivaydel – Gabin Chivaydel (G) +10:52.2
25. Christophe Rocard – Florian Chardon (G) +11:02.5
26. Charles Thonnelier – Aurélien Jacquot +12:18.9
27. Ludovic Casciani – Céline Cavallaro +15:11.6
28. Christophe Truchet – Barbara Truchet +17:06.9
29. Mika Rasoamaromaka – Bastien Pouget (J) +29:45.7
30. John Laroche – Manon Deliot +41:36.1
Ret. Jean Lavigne – Arnaud Cubizolles (J)
Ret. Julien Pontal – Loan Biagetti (J)
Ret. Loïc Pautou – Sonny Postel
Ret. Ludovic de Luca – José Boyer
Ret. Inès Tamisier – Laurent Tamisier (J, F)
Ret. Maxime Lafon – Thomas Delmas (J)
Ret. Axel Rakotomalala – Bastien Fontaine (J)
Ret. Nicolas Ressegaire – Philippe Marchetto (G)
Ret. Marc Reboa – René Padovani (G)

Drivers standings - Jean Ragnotti Power Stage standings - Teams standings - Renault Network Challenge

ABOUT THE CLIO TROPHY FRANCE ASPHALTE AND TERRE

After a successful launch, Clio Rally5 is now taking on all surfaces with the Clio Trophy France Asphalte and the Clio Trophy France Terre. With two calendars intentionally independent and complementary to maximise the opportunities for all, each trophy consists of five rounds of the FFSA French Tarmac or Gravel Rally Championship. Junior, Gentlemen, Female and Teams categories allow all the contenders to be valorised while enjoying unrivalled technical support and a unique level of equity at this level of the pyramid. A real springboard for the most promising hopefuls, the best Juniors on each surface at the end of the year will be offered an official programme.

ABOUT RENAULT

Renault, a historic mobility brand and pioneer of electric vehicles in Europe, has always developed innovative vehicles. With the ‘Renaulution’ strategic plan, Renault has embarked on an ambitious, value-generating transformation moving towards a more competitive, balanced and electrified range. Its ambition is to embody modernity and innovation in technology, energy and mobility services in the automotive industry and beyond.