Clio Cup Series

Nicolas Milan and Anthony Jurado scored a pair of victories for the Milan Compétition team in the Clio Cup’s return to Zandvoort. The team boss-driver inherited his win after a penalty to Anthony Jurado. The latter dominated the action the following day. Jerzy Spinkiewicz took top honours in the Challengers Cup in both races, while Quinto Stefana and Rene Steenmetz shared the spoils in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup. Nicolas Milan leads the general classification after round three of the Clio Cup Europe calendar, while Jerzy Spinkiewicz and Quinto Stefana lead their respective categories.

The Dutch event also saw Nicolas Milan and David Pouget win in Clio Cup France, still led by the latter. Léo Jousset went undefeated in the Challengers Cup, where Joran Leneutre remains the leader at mid-season. Mathieu Rigoulet consolidated his lead in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup by winning on Saturday before Laurent Dziadus did likewise on Sunday. Marc Guillot held on to his lead in Clio Cup Eastern Europe despite Anthony Jurado’s two victories. Juuso Panttila scored a brace of victories to take the Challengers Cup lead, as did Rene Steenmetz in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup.

French Junior Rallycross Championship

Mathieu Fretin excelled in round three of the FFSA Rallycross Junior Championship held at the Circuit des Tourneix in Châteauroux to score his first podium result since last year. The Vigion Promo Sport driver won two qualifying heats, then his semi-final, before achieving a near-perfect final with a first victory. Luc Derrien and Valentin Lumet took advantage of Enzo Boscher and Tom Le Jossec’s misfortunes to complete the podium ahead of Alizée Pottier and Tanguy Fèvre. Despite his inconsistent weekend, Tom Le Jossec keeps the lead in the general classification. He is now four points ahead of Luc Derrien and 13 ahead of Mathieu Fretin before the next stop on the calendar in Touraine (9-10 July).

Italian Rally Championship

Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi took another two-wheel-drive class victory on the roads of Rally di Alba in the fourth round of their official Clio Rally4 programme. The duo, which won the Clio Trophy Italia last year, took the lead on SS3 and had to defend their position until the finish line against the chasing pack. With a one-second advantage ahead of the final two stages, the Italian crew finally secured the honours by pushing their rivals to the limit on the penultimate stage. Thanks to their success, Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi increase their lead in the Campionato Italiano Assoluto Rally Classifica Due Ruote Motrici before tackling the second half of the season on the Rally di Roma Capitale (July 21-24).

Clio Trophy Italia

Giovanni Lanzalaco and Antonio Marchica, who had already won the season opener, doubled their win total in round two of the Clio Trophy Italia on Rally della Marca. The duo of Alex Ferrari and Stefano Costi took the early lead, but Giovanni Lanzalaco and Antonio Marchica replied on the next stage. The NDM Tecno never looked back and went on to win by 19 seconds from Andrea Scalzotto - Nicola Rutigliano, who won an intense battle for the runner-up spot on the podium. Nicola Schileo and Flavio Garella were ninth and last after SS1, but they climbed back up the order to take third place in the final timed sector. Giovanni Lanzalaco and Antonio Marchica consolidated their lead in the general classification before the third round of the Clio Trophy Italia on Rally della Lana (29-30 July).

Clio Trophy Turkey

A third different crew won in Clio Trophy Turkey’s third round of the season at the Eskisehir Rally. Tuncer and Asena Sancakli, who led the general classification after winning the previous round, jumped into the lead before being dislodged by Can Altinok - Efe Ersoy with three stages remaining. The battle on the Turkish asphalt went on, and Nebil and Asli Erbil took the lead on the penultimate sector to win with a 31.4s advance from Can Altinok - Efe Ersoy. Tuncer and Asena Sancakli finished third and still lead a Clio Trophy Turkey that is more indecisive than ever ahead of the next round on the Kocaeli Rally (30-31 July).

And elsewhere…

In the French Rally Cup, Clio Rally5 won its class with Ludovic Lemoine - Alexandre Quenouille on Rallye de Neufchâtel-en-Bray, but also Calvin Lucas - Yohann Marilleau on Rallye Cieux - Monts de Blond, Anthony Rovina - Laura Rovina on Rallye Aiacciu Corsica Suttana, Steve D’Angelo - John Leroux on Rallye des Bornes and Sylvain Rouquette - Marjorie Mercier on Rallye du Gard. This past weekend, Sylvain Fouteret and Fabien Moreau did the same on Rallye des Centurions, as did Damien Vaissière - Sébastien Romero one Rallye du Sidobre, Romain Harnois - Gaël Georges on Rallye des Vins de Chinon et du Véron and Enzo Lucotte - Manon Deliot on Rallye des Vins de Mâcon.

In Spain, Jorge Cagiao and Amelia Blanco took their Clio Rally4 to sixth place in the Rally de Ourense Recalvi and second in their category to return to the top ten in the Supercampeonato de España de Rallyes. Meanwhile, Francisco Ramírez - Minerva Llarena won the Era del Cardón Rallysprint with Clio Rally5.

In Italy, Filippo Bonechi - Marco Cappai dominated their class with Clio Rally5 at Rally di Reggello - Città di Firenze. Clio Rally4 finished in the top three, in the hands of Paolo Moricci and Paolo Garavaldi. Mexico’s Patrice and Nicolas Spitalier continued their discovery of Europe with flying colours. The NACAM Junior Cup winners won the Rally5 class on Rally di Alba, as did Emanuele Rosso - Andrea Ferrari, with Clio Rally4.

Clio Trophy Belgium leader Benoit Verlinde and Anton Dupan led Clio Rally5 to the class victory on the Prima-Acon Vechtdal Rally in the Dutch Rally Championship. Clio Rally4 also finished in the top ten, with Dutchmen Jan Winkel - Radboud van Hoek also winning their category.

In Denmark, Thomas and Mathias Andersen finished seventh overall in the Landbobanken Rallysprint - Sdr. Vium, and won their category with Clio Rally5. Thomas Andersen followed up with two more class wins a week later at Rally Himmerland and DM RallyShow Aalborg, this time with co-driver Preben Lønberg. Clio Rally5 also enjoyed success on the Czech national scene, led by Jaroslav Petráš - Petr Jindra Jr on Rally Hustopeče as well as in Romania with Catherine Radulescu - Bogdan Minea on Raliul Bucovinei, and in Portugal with Joaquim Bernardes - Laurinda Alves on Rali Montelongo Carlos Vieira.
Lastly, Peru’s Javier Arce and Mario Acosta caused a sensation by beating many S2000s and S1600s to win Rally Ciudad de Cusco by more than 40 seconds with Clio Rally5.

Coming up

This week the action will centre on Latvia with round five of the FIA European Rally Championship. Three Clio Rally4s are entered for factory drivers Anthony Fotia, Andrea Mabellini and Hungarian László Martin. Rally Liepāja will also be the venue for round three of the Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT, where the service park will host seven Clio Rally5s, including that of leaders Paulo Soria and Marcelo Der Ohannessian.