Italian Rally Championship

As the inaugural winners of the Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT, Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi began their official Italian Rally Championship programme on the 45th Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio.

Following their victorious debut with Clio Rally4 in late 2021, the Italian duo quickly moved to the front. In third place at the end of the first leg, the crew took their Castrol-liveried HK Racing-prepared car to second place in the two-wheel-drive category and fourteenth in the general classification.

"We are quite happy, and this is a great way to start the season," said Andrea Mabellini. "We were able to adapt Clio Rally4 even more to my driving style, and I must say that our results show that we have been working in the right direction. Our closest rival was on familiar terrain, so we knew they would have an advantage. But we proved we were in the fight by closing in on them. We immediately felt at ease with Clio Rally4 and the Michelin tyres. Everything worked perfectly, so I would like to thank Renault, Michelin and the HK Racing team for this tremendous start."

Andrea Mabellini’s next opportunity to compete on the national scene comes at Rally Sanremo (9-10 April), where the Italian Junior Rally Championship, now run exclusively with Clio Rally5, will also kick-off.

FIA NACAM Rally Championship

The NACAM Rac 1000 Rally hosted the opening round of the FIA NACAM Rally Championship and the 2022 Mexican Rally Championship.

Clio Rally5, which won the NACAM Junior Cup and Rally5 titles last year, was just as comfortable on this new fixture on the calendar with the success of the Ecuadorian crew of Diego Serrano with Juan Felipe Serrano. Third among the competitors entered in NACAM, the duo won ahead of FIA NACAM Junior winners Gustavo Uriostegui & David Hernández and Patrice Spitalier & Nicolas Spitalier. Clio Rally5 also monopolised the podium of the FIA NACAM4 (two-wheel-drive) and the Rally5 category.

The next round is Rally Reto de las Naciones (1-3 April).

French Rally Cup

Already victorious several times this year, Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 continue to rack up successes on the national scene.

For their debut with Clio Rally4, Philippe and Romain Rageau finished in the overall top five on Rallye Jean-Pierre Champeau while winning in RC4. In RC5, Thomas Gaume & Guillaume Lopes and Calvin Lucas & Amandine Houry made it a Clio Rally5 one-two finish while finishing seventh and eighth in the general classification. Clio Rally5 did even better on Rallye des Boucles Capelloises by locking out the podium in its class with the victory of Sylvain Fouteret and Xavier Lefebvre - ninth overall - ahead of Sara Williams & Aled Davies and Aurélien Hordequin & Julien Chofflet. Meanwhile, Julien France and Marc Haddad were second in the RC4 class, 13.2s off the winners.

Ten Clio Rally5s also took part in Rallye Coeur des Vignobles, and they all finished, demonstrating once again the car’s excellent reliability. Among the crews in action, including several that will compete in Clio Trophy France Asphalte, Arthur and Marine Pelamourgues were the fastest, finishing ninth in the general classification and winning RC5 honours ahead of Florian Condamines & Antoine van Herpen and Jordan Issalys & Bastien Pouget.

On Rallye de Meuse, Yoan Corderand and Emeline Faivre made a strong impression with seventh place overall in their Clio Rally5 and winning ahead of Jérôme Janny & Clément Gutierrez and Mathieu Walter & Thibault Raincourt in another all-Renault podium. Enzo Lucotte & Clio Chambelland and Sébastien Sureau & Cédric Chavenay also scored a one-two finish for Clio Rally5 on Rallye du Pays Avallonnais, while Marina Breuil & Mélanie Tendille and Mattéo Codaccioni & Marine Delon completed the week’s results by winning Rallye Baldomérien and Rallye de Vaison-la-Romaine respectively.

Elsewhere…

Renault models are also continuing their success on the international stage. 2021 Clio Trophy Italia winners, Davide Nicelli and Tiziano Pieri led Clio Rally5 to victory in R1 on the Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio while Michael Savio and Nicolò De Bernardini won their class on the Benacus Rally.

In Spain, Mexican Alejandro Mauro Sanchez and co-driver Diego Sanjuan won their class on Rally Tierras Altas de Lorca with Clio Rally5 in the opening round of the Spanish Rally Championship and the Spanish Gravel Rally Cup. Carlos Rodríguez González and Esther Gutiérrez Porras did the same while taking third place overall on Rallycrono Casabermeja.

Coming up

Renault will be present at this week’s Rally Serras de Fafe - Felgueiras - Cabreira e Boticas to kick off the FIA European Rally Championship (FIA ERC).

Anthony Fotia, who impressed on the European scene with victory in his second start last year before a superb victory on Rallye Monte-Carlo, will launch his programme with Clio Rally4, Arnaud Dunand and Toksport WRT. The Frenchman will team up with Italians Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi, who earned their entry after securing the Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT title. The latter will cross swords again against former rivals Paulo Soria and Marcelo Der Ohannesian, with the Argentinians also making the jump with Clio Rally4. Mexico’s Alejandro Mauro Sanchez and Diego Sanjuan de Eusebio will complete the Clio Rally4 contingent, while Portugal’s João Colaço and José Patrício will battle in Clio Rally5.

Meanwhile, the Clio Cups entered in the NGK UAE Procar Championship will be in action for the final time this season. After seeing six different drivers win the first nine races, Eduardo Miranda, Ahmed Al Melaihi and Kevin Day will race for the crown at the Dubai Autodrome (11-12 March).