There was no recce for the drivers at the start of the second event on the Twingo R2 France Trophy calendar, with Yann Clairay the first to show, clocking the fastest time on stage one ahead of Romain Salinas, Laurent Clutier, Mathieu Sentis and Thierry Monnet, the gap between first and fifth being less than four seconds.

Clutier wiped out Clairay’s narrow advantage to take the lead on SS2, while Sentis moved up to nudge Salinas out of third.

Four consecutive fastest times then allowed Clutier to open out a small lead over the field, only for Clairay to react at the end of leg one and keep the championship leader’s cushion down to a mere five seconds, with Salinas, Sentis and Monnet making up the rest of the top five, and Georges Gonon, Jonathan Fra, Lloyd Seminara and Anthony Balester completing the race standings.

Second in the season-opening Rallye Region Limousin, Salinas kicked off day two in the best possible fashion, posting three fastest times to trim the deficit between him and Clairay in second, while Clutier stayed out in front.

There were plenty of twist and turns over the closing stages. Having closed to within five seconds of second place, Salinas went off the road in SS12 and lost half a minute, while Balester suffered a puncture on the same special stage and Sentis suffered the same fate on SS13.

Stretching his lead out to more than 20 seconds, Clutier eventually made it two wins out of two ahead of Clairay. Monnet finished third after holding off a late challenge in the final stage from Salinas, who was 1.9 seconds away from a podium finish. The final points on offer went to Gonon, Sentis and Balester in that order.

Afterwards, Clutier had this to say: “We made a good start but the specials were too short to open out really big gaps. We did some good work on the recce drives and I really wanted to put down a big marker on the first stage of leg two. It worked well for us as we opened out a 30-second advantage, which we managed to hold on to until the end of the rally. Our Twingo Renaultsport R2 is ultra-reliable and the team has done a fantastic job. The aim now is to keep it going till the end of the season.”

Clairay: “We performed well at the Limousin Rally and we were in the mix again all weekend, which is satisfying because we don’t have a lot of experience with the Twingo Renaultsport R2. It’s all very positive even though I know that we need to keep moving forward to try and catch Laurent Clutier.”

Sticking to the objectives he has been set, Romiguiere continued his apprenticeship in the Twingo R2 Evo, gradually upping the pace before posting a fastest time in the R2 class and earning a podium finish in the category.

“After picking up some valuable experience at previous rallies it was important to step up a level here,” said Romiguiere at the finish line. “We were in touch right from the start and we went for a fastest time. It’s a very pleasing result because we’ve moved on a stage. We’re following the schedule put in place by Renault Sport Technologies, and my goal in the next round, which is back home in Aveyron, is to go out and win.”

29th Rallye des Vins Mâcon
Fastest times: Laurent Clutier 6, Romain Salinas 4, Yann Clairay 3, Thierry Monnet 1
Race leaders: Yann Clairay (SS1); Laurent Clutier (SS2 to 14 - finish)

Final standings
1. Laurent CLUTIER/Brice BRUN: 2:05.27
2. Yann CLAIRAY/Frederic GOUPIL: +0:21.8
3. Thierry MONNET/Cedric HUGONNOT: +0:41.2
4. Romain SALINAS/Benjamin MICHELI: +0:43.1
5. Georges GONON/Valerie GONON: +3:05.9
6. Mathieu SENTIS/Gil VALETTE: +6:35.3
7. Anthony BALESTER/ Thomas BOSCHETTO: +7:58.1

Twingo R2 France Trophy
1. Laurent Clutier: 50 pts
2. Romain Salinas and Thierry Monnet: 30
4. Yann Clairay: 18
5. Georges Gonon: 16
6. Anthony Balester: 14
7. Jonathan Fra: 12
8. Lloyd Seminara: 10
9. Mathieu Sentis: 8