Clio Cup Europe

Ten years after his maiden international title in Clio Cup, Nicolas Milan claimed a second European crown, increasing his number of Clio Cup titles from ten to thirteen by winning the Clio Cup Europe as well as Group B and D.

While Anthony Jurado dominated the final round, the battles for the remaining titles raged throughout the field at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Nicolas Milan got the better of David Pouget in their duel while Lionel Viguier took the Gentlemen Drivers Cup by the slimmest of margins in a season that saw 110 drivers compete. The verdict also came in Group B with the triumph of Kévin Jimenez in the Challengers Cup. Alexandre Albouy took the Challengers title while Stephan Polderman led the way among the Gentlemen Drivers in Group D.

The 2022 calendar will be announced in the coming weeks !

More information here.

French Gravel Rally Championship

Clio Rally5 hits another significant milestone in its budding career with its first national crown in France at the hands of Quentin Ribaud. Co-driven by Mélissa Declerck, the winner of the inaugural Clio Trophy France Terre season continued his winning ways, leading Renault to its first title on the French stages since Simon Jean-Joseph’s triumph in the 2003 French S1600 Championship.

More information here.

Clio Trophy Turkey

Round five of the Clio Trophy Turkey, the Kocaeli Rallisi saw Mehmet Besler hit the ground running on the opening stage, placing his Clio Rally5 between the Rally2s and ahead of several Rally4s to take a 44.9-second lead. While Çelik Çağlayan fought back to within 6.1s at the end of the first leg, Mehmet Besler picked up more than a minute the next day before losing it all by retiring after a hit in the final kilometres.

The mishap of the 2005 Turkish champion delighted Nebil Erbil and his co-driver Onur Ahiskali as they scored their first victory of the season ahead of Çelik Çağlayan & Ufuk Uluocak and Tuncer Sancakli & Asena Sancakli. With this maiden win after four consecutive podiums, Nebil Erbil will battle points leader Çelik Çağlayan for the title in the Istanbul season-finale. Meanwhile, Tuncer Sancakli, Mehmet Besler, Menderes Okur and Can Altinok will fight for third place in the final general classification.

Next round : Istanbul Rally (26-28 November)

Clio Trophy Swiss

After the confirmation of their victory on the roads of the Rallye International du Valais (21-23 October), Ismaël Vuistiner and Florine Kummer won the 2021 edition of the Clio Trophy Swiss ahead of Guillaume Girolamo & Benjamin Bétrisey and David Erard & Sarah Junod following the exclusion of the Jérémie Toedtli & Julie Faure team for an infraction of the series technical regulations. However, the latter are still the 2021 Swiss Junior Rally Champions ahead of Guillaume Girolamo & Benjamin Bétrisey and Thibault Maret & Cédric Santini.

More information here.

NGK UAE Procar Championship

Eleven Clio Cups were at the Dubai Autodrome to kick off the NGK UAE Procar Championship season. After finishing a close second to Kenny Murray in race one, Eduardo Miranda came back to win race two by more than thirty seconds over Kevin Day and Ahmed Al Melaihi. Thanks to this success, the sixteen-year-old driver now leads the general classification ahead of Ahmed Al Melaihi and Kenny Murray ahead of the next round at Yas Marina.

Next round : Yas Marina Circuit (18-19 November)

More information here.

Elsewhere...

The eighteenth edition of the ACI Sport Federal Supercorso operation for young Italian karting hopefuls before they transition to car racing took place at Vallelunga. This year, three Clio Cups were provided by Renault Italia, Fast Lane Promotion and the Progetto E20 Motorsport team and entrusted to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Brando Badoer, Eliseo Donno and Valerio Rinicella, as well as to two guests, Brazilian Rafael Câmara and Finn Tuukka Taponen. After more than twenty hours of on and off-track evaluations, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was named the winner by the jury of instructors and motorsport figures, including Emanuele Pirro and Giancarlo Minardi.

In France, David Ferriere & Eddy Baumet and Nicolas Renchet & Philippe Gidel excelled to complete an all Clio Rally5 podium on the Rallye Terre de Vaucluse behind Quentin Ribaud and Mélissa Declerck. Clio Rally5 won in the hands of Sylvain and Nicolas Fouteret, ninth overall on the Rallye de Picardie, but also with Anthony and Laura Rovina on the Rallye Mare è Machja. Renault also performed well on the Rallye du Haut Pays Niçois with a class win for the Clio Rally4 of Brice Thouret & Cyril Clermont and a Clio Rally5 1-2 finish with Valentin Ascenzi & William Hanocq and Ghjuvanni Rossi & Maxime Martini.

Internationally, Clio Rally5 collected three more victories with the triumphs of Arnaldo Borghi & Stefano Zanni in R1 on the Ronde Halloween (San Marino), Franco Borgogno & Mattia Mantovani in R1TN on the Ronde delle Valli Imperiesi (Italy) and Maximiano Gallardo & Mercedes Cano on the Rallye Alpujarra Oriental (Spain).

Coming up

Just days after Clio Rally5’s maiden title in France, Renault will compete for two continental crowns on Rally Islas Canarias (November 18-20).

FIA ERC3 leader Jean-Baptiste Franceschi will look to defend his lead and go on for the title in his Clio Rally4 while challenging reigning Junior WRC Champion Sami Pajari in FIA ERC3 Junior. Four other cars are on the entry list with Spaniards Sergio Fuentes and Jorge Cagiao, winner of Clio Trophy Spain in 2020 and 2021, Argentinian Paulo Soria, who has been a driving force in Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT, and Frenchman Anthony Fotia, winner of the 2020 Clio Trophy France. Meanwhile, five crews will be relying on Clio Rally5 for this final event of the season.

Winners of the Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT with Clio Rally5, Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi will move up to the next level by returning to the FIA World Rally Championship for its final round at FORUM8 ACI Rally Monza. On home soil, the Italian duo will continue to discover Clio Rally4 after their class victory on Rally Due Valli last month.

Photos 1 & 3 : DPPI / Alpine Racing
Photo 2 : DPPI / Bastien Roux
Photo 4 : Renault Italia / Fast Lane Promotion