FIA ERC

The crews of Anthony Fotia & Arnaud Dunand and Andrea Mabellini & Virginia Lenzi were back in action on the Azores Rally in the second round of their official FIA European Rally Championship programme with Clio Rally4.

Despite the tricky conditions that led to the cancellation of stage one, the two crews immediately moved to the sharp end of the order. The Italian duo set the fastest time on SS2 and SS3 in the rain and was in the lead before swapping best times with their French counterparts in the afternoon. On Sunday, Anthony Fotia turned his 3.7s deficit into a 6.3s advantage at the start of the decisive loop when his rival suffered a puncture. The Frenchman then controlled his pace to seal victory with a 56.9s lead over Andrea Mabellini. The FIA ERC4 podium was monopolised by Renault, with Argentina’s Paulo Soria taking third in Clio Rally5. Turkey’s Çelik Çağlayan finished third in the RC4 class on his debut with Clio Rally4 on the European scene.

Andrea Mabellini takes the lead in the FIA ERC4 general classification, six points ahead of Paulo Soria. With his success, Anthony Fotia moves up to fourth place in the championship, 18 points behind his team-mate before the next round of the season, Rally Islas Canarias (12-14 May).

Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT

After finishing within a whisker of the title winner Andrea Mabellini last year, Paulo Soria made his intentions known in his return to the Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT in the Azores.

Leaders from the start, Paulo Soria and Marcelo Der Ohannesian won five of the six stages on Saturday to build a 30.2s lead over Giorgio Cogni & Gabriele Zanni. Rivalling at times with the leading front-wheel-drive entries, the Argentinian pushed on and monopolised the first four timed sectors of the following day to extend his lead to more than two minutes. Paulo Soria finished the rally with a 3:16.5s advantage over Giorgio Cogni. Spain’s Sergio Fuentes and Alain Peña completed the podium ahead of Turkey’s Emre Hasbay & Kutay Ertugrul and Italy’s Andrea Mazzocchi & Silvia Gallotti, both of them having started again on Sunday after having been caught out the day before.

Argentina’s Paulo Soria will defend his lead in the general classification at the next Rally Islas Canarias (12-14 May).

Elsewhere…

Renault also performed brilliantly in South America with the victory of Uruguay’s Luigi Contin and Federico Rodríguez in the CODASUR4 on Rally Trans Itapúa (Paraguay), the FIA CODASUR Rally Championship season-opener. Leading from SS2, the duo held off several crews entered in higher category cars to take Clio Rally5 to victory by 2.6 seconds.

Meanwhile, Diego and Juan Felipe Serrano led a Clio Rally5 RC5 hat-trick ahead of Paul Zea & Juan Carlos Núñez and Erick Coello & Luis Valverde on Rally Fiesta de la Fruta y de las Flores, the first round of the Ecuadorian Rally Championship.

There were other strong performances in the French Rally Cup, with Romain Di-Fante and Nathaël Naudon finishing second in the Rallye Val de Boutonne with Clio Rally4, between several Rally2 and Group A cars. Meanwhile, Maxime Goetz and Charlotte Perouf won the Rallye des Vignes de Régnié with the same model, while Rémi Jouines & Marine Pelamourgues and Jordan Issalys & Bastien Pouget won the Rallye de l’Hérault - Grand Orb and the Rallye du Vallon de Marcillac - Aveyron respectively with Clio Rally5.

Former factory driver Toni Gardemeister and his co-driver Mikko Heikkilä also won with Clio Rally4 in their category at the Snow Rally Rings (Finland). Miklós Csomós and Attila Nagy won in RC5 and finished second in the two-wheel-drive class with Clio Rally5 at the Salgó Rally to kick off the Hungarian Rally Championship.

Lastly, Nicolás Cabanes & Javi Moltó and Antonio Llamusí & Carlos Marhuenda gave Clio Rally5 a one-two finish in their class on the Busot-Trofeo Cuevas del Canelobre Rally (Spain). Nicola Angilletta & Francesco Magrini and Pietro Manfrin & Damiano Poltronieri did the same on the Camunia Rally (Italy) while Clio Rally5 also scored podium results in Croatia, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Coming up

This week, the Clio Trophy France Terre will begin its second season with 33 crews on the Rallye Terre des Causses. Last year’s winners, Quentin Ribaud and Mélissa Declerck will attack the same special stages to launch their official programme in the French Gravel Rally Championship with Clio Rally4.

Clio Trophy Spain will also welcome an expanding service park at Rally Sierra Morena with 15 duos present for round one. Jorge Cagiao and Amelia Blanco will begin their campaign with Clio Rally4 after winning the Spanish trophy the last two years.

Several Renault Clio Rally5s will also be in action at round two of the FIA NACAM Rally Championship, Rally of Nations Guanajuato (1-3 April). Mexico’s Gustavo Uriostegui will look to take the lead from Diego Serrano in the battle for the top spot between the Clio Rally5s competing in FIA NACAM4.