The Twingo R2 France Trophy boiled down to a contest between Romain Salinas and Laurent Clutier on the roads of the Rallye du Var. And by winning this last leg, his third success of the season, it was Romain Salinas who became the successor to Stéphane Consani in the list of title holders, beating both Laurent Clutier and Georges Gonon.

The Twingo R2 France Trophy boiled down to a contest between Romain Salinas and Laurent Clutier on the roads of the Rallye du Var. And by winning this last leg, his third success of the season, it was Romain Salinas who became the successor to Stéphane Consani in the list of title holders, beating both Laurent Clutier and Georges Gonon.

The short first special stage set the tone. The duel between Romain Salinas and Laurent Clutier, to decide the Twingo R2 France Trophy, handed the advantage to Salinas. Clutier was even beaten by Guillaume Sirot in the first classification.

Guillaume Sirot threw himself totally into the fray, marking the best time in SS2. Romain Salinas soon took control again to finish the first stage setting two new benchmark times.

Upon returning to Sainte-Maxime, Romain Salinas held a 14-second advantage over Guillaume Sirot. Falling foul of a power-steering problem, Laurent Clutier was already more than one minute ahead of Georges Gonon, Laurent Wilkin, Garry Pearson, winner of the 2012 UK Twingo R1 Trophy, Cédric Fournier and Olivier Politi.

With his main rival in the lead, Laurent Clutier had no other option but to drive aggressively to clear his time deficit. However, a puncture in SS5, while Laurent Wilkin and Guillaume Sirot shared the best time, moved him a little further down the classification.

Having fallen to fourth place, Laurent Clutier finally found his rhythm, putting together three best times in the second stage. However, the gap was not reduced. On Saturday night, Romain Salinas came in ahead of Guillaume Sirot by 15 seconds and Laurent Clutier was back in third place, over three minutes behind.

Sunday saw just two contested special stages, with Laurent Wilkin and Guillaume Sirot demonstrating their dominance again but there was no change in the classification. Romain Salinas clocked up his third victory in six events ahead of Guillaume Sirot and Laurent Clutier and took home the 2012 Twingo R2 France Trophy.

Romain Salinas: “We have had a fantastic season. I’m really happy. The final event was stressful as we had to control our race. We had to remain concentrated and to ensure we reached the end by staying on the road. This is dedicated to our entire team at the end of a great season.”

Nicolas Romiguière and Alexis Negre at the foot of the podium
Driving for Renault Sport Technologies in a Twingo R2 Evo, having both secured the title of French Junior Rally Champion, Nicolas Romiguière and Alexis Negre finished their season with fourth place in the R2 category: “We have had a quite difficult weekend. Up to the end, we tried things, mainly with the tyres. At the end of the rally, there was one round left to go in the long special stage but it was cancelled. I would rather have ensured that the car came back intact at the end of the final special stage.”

58th Rallye du Var
12 special stages, one cancelled
Best times: Romain Salinas 4, Laurent Clutier 3, Guillaume Sirot 3 including 1 tie, Laurent Wilkin 2 including 1 tie.

Overall classification
1 SALINAS Romain - MICHELI Benjamin 2:51:21:1
2 SIROT Guillaume - BREUIL Emeline +0:12:5
3 CLUTIER Laurent - BRUN Brice +4:48:6
4 GONON Georges - GONON Valérie +6:26:1
5 WILKIN Laurent - DE BOLLE Eric +11:41:5
6 PEARSON Garry - WALLACE Craig +20:36:9
7 FOURNIER Cédric - BUSTOS Virginie +34:51:9

Twingo R2 France Trophy classification
1. Romain Salinas 111 points
2. Laurent Clutier 108 points
3. Georges Gonon 67 points
4. Yann Clairay 45 points
5. Thierry Monnet 30 points
6. Anthony Balester 29 points
7. Mathieu Sentis 27 points
8. Jonathan Fra 22 points
9. Laurent Wilkin 20 points
10. Guillaume Sirot 18 points
11. Lloyd Seminara 10 points
12. Yohann Trivino 8 points