French Rally Championship

Just two weeks after Quentin Ribaud’s victory on gravel, Clio Rally5 wins the French two-wheel-drive Rally Championship on tarmac thanks to Romain Di-Fante.

The Clio Trophy France Asphalte winner and co-driver Patrick Chiappe won for the fifth time this season, beating the Clio Rally5s of Loïc Astier and Julien Marchand on the Rallye du Var to clinch another major rally title for Renault. This triumph comes on top of the two French Cup titles as well as the two European crowns won by Clio Rally4 and Jean-Baptiste Franceschi, who Renault wishes a speedy recovery from his accident on SS12.

Meanwhile, Clio Rally4 won ten of the sixteen stages in the hands of Jean-Baptiste Franceschi, Boris Carminati and Patrick Magnou, who finished second in the Rally4 category and tenth overall. Allison Viano also drove her Clio Rally4 to second place in the French Women’s Rally Championship.

More information here.

NACAM Junior Cup

The final round of the season, Rally Montañas promised a three-way battle in the NACAM Junior Cup among Patrice Spitalier, Gerardo Rejón and Gustavo Uriostegui.

The race for the title had its first drama when Gustavo Uriostegui withdrew before the rally after suffering from an appendicitis attack. Gerardo Rejón had to win to keep his hopes alive and was soon leading the category and into the top three of the FIA NACAM Rally Championship, but Patrice Spitalier managed his pace to seal his title.

In the season-ending general classification, the Spitalier brothers won the NACAM Junior Cup and the Rally5 category of the FIA NACAM Rally Championship by nine points from Gerardo Rejón & Mauricio Pimentel. Gustavo Uriostegui & David Hernandez completed the two podiums monopolised by Clio Rally5. Thanks to his success, Patrice Spitalier will receive a free entry in one of the Clio Trophies organised in Europe in 2022.

Clio Trophy Turkey

In the highly competitive season-finale on the Istanbul Rally roads, Çağlayan Çelik became the first man to win the Clio Trophy Turkey title.

Points leader Çağlayan Çelik made a perfect start, taking the lead in the opening stage. Fifth on SS1, his rival Nebil Erbil quickly climbed moved up the order to finish leg one in second place at 40.2s. However, his last hopes vanished when he went off the road in the first timed sector on Sunday.

Çağlayan Çelik and co-driver Ufuk Uluocak were then assured of winning the title and won the rally ahead of Can Altinok, who took third place in the trophy from Tuncer Sancakli, who finished third this weekend.

Next round in 2022.

Elsewhere...

Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 also scored further successes on several European rallies. In Italy, Alessandro Rota and Arnaldo Borghi bagged a one-two finish for Clio Rally5 on Rally Valle Imagna while Andrea Scalzotto and Sebastiano Sentinelli did the same on Rally Città di Schio.

Clio Trophy France Terre contender Marcel Abad drove his Clio Rally5 to the category win on Rally 2000 Viratges (Spain) while finishing seventh overall. Alejandro Mauro Sanchez also finished on the podium in his category on the same event in a Clio Rally4.