Clio Trophy Spain

The Clio Trophy Spain crews met up for the last time in 2021 at the Comunidad de Madrid-RACE Rallyshow in Jarama.

Jorge Cagiao, who has already won the title, took advantage of this demonstration event to celebrate his second consecutive title with co-driver Amelia Blanco. 2021 runner-up Diogo Gago put on a show, winning this prestigious finale ahead of Carlos Rodríguez. With his third-place finish, Jorge Cagiao sealed eighth place in the season-ending general classification of the Spanish Rally Cup while leading Clio Rally5 to the two-wheel drive category crown.

Next year, Clio Trophy Spain will be more promising than ever with the introduction of the Beca U24. A pillar of the Rally Team Spain development pyramid, the scholarship will reward the best driver under the age of 24 with €30,000 for a Clio Rally4 programme in 2023 thanks to the support of Renault España, Grupo Recalvi and RFEDA.

More information here and here.

Elsewhere...

Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 have continued to perform well in Europe and Latin America over the past fortnight.

Thomas Chauffray mixed it up with the Rally2s to finish third on the Rallye de Pont-l’Évêque and give Clio Rally4 its first podium finish overall in France before another class win on the Rallye de Balagne a few days later. The Clio Trophy France Asphalte standout wasn’t the only one to excel on these events as Christophe Gouville and Yannick Francisci won on these same rallies with Clio Rally5.

Further successes in the French Rally Cup included a double win for Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 with Tony Ribaudo - Cyrielle Delorme and Florian Picchioni - Cédric Amoros at the Rallye Hivernal du Dévoluy. The Clio Rally5s of Benjamin Rico & Kévin Duteurtre also won its class at the Rallye des Vins du Gard while Romain Harnois & Bastien Pichon were victorious on the Rallye du Médoc.

There were also many wins in Italy, led by the Clio Rally4 of Marco Varetto & Vittorio Bianco and the Clio Rally5 of Alex Ferrari & Luca Virgilli, both winning their categories on the Rally di Castiglione Torinese. Meanwhile, Matteo Pezzetta & Paolo Garavaglia led a podium monopolised by Clio Rally5 in R1C-N at the Special Rally Circuit by Vedovati Corse. Mattia Zanin & Fabio Pizzol also won in their class at Rally Day della Fettunta, as did Nicola Schileo & Gian Guido Furnari on the Prealpi Master Show.

Third in the Clio Trophy Belgium, Tom Rensonnet and Renaud Herman concluded their first campaign in the RACB National Team colours in style by dominating the action in the RC5 class on the Spa Rally ahead of the Clio Rally5s of Vitalii Antoniv & Nadia Muilwijk and Xavier Dekeyser & Nele Tassaert. At the same time, Roberto Blach and Borja Odriozola bagged three victories at the Rallye Reino de León in the Spanish Rally Championship and the Spanish Gravel Rally Cup. Lastly, Alejandro Mauro and Daniel Muntadas finished just off the podium in the RACC RallySprint while securing second place in 2WD with Clio Rally4 while Joan Sabater and Miquel Amblàs ended up in the top ten with Clio Rally5.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Clio Rally5 continued to cause a sensation with fourth-place overall and a victory in RC5N for Luigi Contin & Federico Rodríguez in the Copa 90 Annos de ANCAP - Mariscala - Lavalleja in Uruguay. At the same time, Garay Wilson and Javier Arce & Mario Acosta also made a strong impression, finishing eighth and tenth respectively in the Rally Ciudad de Abancay in Peru.

Coming up

While many competitors will be racing through the end of the year with the various Clio cars designed for competition, the next major event will be the kick-off of the Clio Ice Trophy on 8 January 2022. Organised within the two-wheel-drive category of the Crèdit Andorrà GSeries, this new trophy promises to be spectacular with the first appearance of Clio RX and Clio Rally5 on snow and ice!

Photos 1 & 2: Clio Trophy Spain
Photo 3: Crèdit Andorrà GSeries
Photo 4: Rolling Fast Photography