Clio Trophy France Terre

The first meeting of the Clio Trophy Terre started in the snow and lived up to its promise with numerous battles throughout the Rallye Terre des Causses.

Jean-Paul Monnin, who finished second in the general classification last year, won ahead of several Juniors led by Florian Bouchonneau and Sam Taveneau after the accident of the leader, Romain Di-Fante. Lilian Vialle (Gentlemen) and Ines Tamisier (Women) completed the list of winners of this thrilling season-opener in all the categories.

Meanwhile, the titleholder started his official programme with Clio Rally4. With Mélissa Declerck by his side and the support of the Fun Meca Sport team, Quentin Ribaud gained experience despite the challenging conditions, climbing up the order after a poor tyre choice to finish third in the Rally4 category.

The next round of the season will take Quentin Ribaud and the candidates to succeed him to Rallye Terre de Castine (6-8 May).

More information here.

Clio Trophy Spain

Rallye Sierra Morena hosted the opening round of the Clio Trophy Spain with a growing field of 15 crews at the start.

Carlos Rodríguez and Esther Gutiérrez jumped into the lead, with the best time on all four stages contested on Friday to build up an advantage of nearly thirty seconds. After two more fastest times on Saturday morning, Carlos Rodríguez maintained his lead and added two more best sectors to seal his victory, 1:23.6s ahead of Nicolás Cabanes & Javi Moltó. Third-place finishers Unai de La Dehesa and Alain Peña won among the pretenders of the Beca U24, an initiative for young hopefuls to join the Rallye Team Spain with the Spanish federation (RFEdA).

Carlos Rodríguez finished ninth overall and third in the two-wheel-drive category and sits atop the Clio Trophy Spain classification ahead of the next round on Rallye Cidade de Narón (10-11 June).

2020 and 2021 Clio Trophy Spain winner Jorge Cagiao kicked off his Clio Rally4 programme on the same roads. The Spaniard and co-driver Amelia Blanco posted four fastest times in their class in the first four stages of the rally and were leading the two-wheel-drive class before their off on the first Saturday timed sector. The other Clio Rally4 driven by Raúl Hernández and Rodrigo Sanjuan finished second in RC4.

FIA NACAM Rally Championship

Several Clio Rally5s entered round two of the season, the Rally of Nations Guanajuato, whose route took in some of the legendary sections of Rally Mexico previously featured in the FIA World Rally Championship.

FIA NACAM4 leaders Gustavo Uriostegui and David Hernández led before being overtaken by Diego and Juan Serrano on SS3. Unlike many of their rivals, the Ecuadorian duo avoided the pitfalls and went on for a clear win. Patrice and Nicolas Spitalier finished third with their Clio Rally5, while Gustavo Uriostegui came back to finish third in FIA NACAM4. Italian Andrea Mabellini and co-driver Virginia Lenzi, who had come to experience the Mexican stages, led in Rally5 before their accident on SS8.

With the win, Diego Serrano and Clio Rally5 move up to third place in the FIA NACAM Rally Championship, trailing only two four-wheel-drive cars. The Ecuadorian also extends his lead in FIA NACAM4 and Clio Cup ahead of Gustavo Uriostegui’s Clio, which consolidates its position as leader in the FIA NACAM4 Junior category.

Elsewhere…

Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 were making headlines around the world this past weekend with more than a hundred cars in action!

In the French Rally Cup, Clio Rally5 crushed its category with a 1-2-3 led by Florian Picchioni & Cendrine Ruel on Rallye du Pays de Grasse Fleurs et Parfums, and another led by Jean-Pierre Lejeune and Geneviève Arnavielhe on Rallye de la Briance. Several sweeps of the top four were also to be counted with those led by Sylvain Fouteret & Xavier Lefebvre in the Épernay Vins de Champagne Rally and Thomas Gaume - Armand Godard in the Rallye Autocourse. The Clio Rally4 of Dominique and Samuel Hoarau also won Rallye de la Plaine-des-Palmistes , just like the Clio Rally5 of Sylvain Alanore & Anthony Pecatte at Rallye du Pays de Lohéac.

In Italy, Clio Rally5 also monopolised the Rally5 podium on Rally del Bardolino, with the team of Michael Savio and Nicolò De Bernardini finishing 14th overall, as well as in the Trofeo Maremma with Frenchmen Kévin Fredenucci and Yoann Raffaelli. The Clio Rally5 of Alessandro Scurosu and Davide Panu also won the national Trofeo Maremma, while Riccardo Gandolfi and Serena Vacchieri lad another Clio Rally5 lockout of the top four on Rally Team 971.

In Portugal, Clio Rally4 reached finished in the overall top ten on Rali Município de São Vicente with Miguel Caires and João Miguel Sousa finishing ninth.

Coming up

The Clio Trophy Swiss will kick off this week with the Critérium Jurassien (8-9 April), while the Clio Trophy Belgium will begin its second season on the TAC Rally (9 April). Meanwhile, the Italian Junior Rally Championship, now run exclusively with Clio Rally5s prepared by Motorsport Italia, will start on Rally Sanremo (9-10 April).