Clio Cup Series

This weekend the Clio Cup Series began the second half of its season at the Hungaroring. Clio Cup France leader David Pouget got back into title contention on the European scene by winning his first Clio Cup Europe race in 2022 on Saturday ahead of Marc Guillot and Nicolas Milan. In that Saturday race, Anthony Jurado finished first but was penalised for jumping the start, but he bounced back in style the next day to get the better of David Pouget and Nicolas Milan. The latter retains the lead in Clio Cup Europe, as does Marc Guillot in Clio Cup Eastern Europe. Twice Challengers Cup winner, Poland’s Jerzy Spinkiewicz widens the gap in the European category, as does Juuso Panttila in Eastern Europe. Lastly, Stephan Polderman and Quinto Stefana picked up a race win apiece in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup.

Clio Trophy France Asphalte

After narrow victories at Le Touquet and Antibes, Thomas Chauffray and co-driver Pauline Chauffray won the Aveyron Rouergue Occitanie Rally in dominating fashion this weekend. They set the fastest time on 11 of the 12 stages and triumphed ahead of Patrick Magnou - Anthony Vilanova and Juniors Tom Pieri - Amandine Borderie. With this third success, the leader of the Europe Location team will be in an ideal position for the final sprint at the Mont-Blanc Morzine Rally. Meanwhile, Mike Souvigné - Ann Felke and Charlotte Olea - Cécile Pages won in the Gentlemen and Women’s categories on their trophy debuts.

French Rally Championship

Arriving at Rallye Aveyron Rouergue Occitanie atop the French two-wheel-drive Rally Championship, Clio Rally4 official driver Romain Di-Fante and co-driver Patrick Chiappe put in a perfect performance with eight scratches in as many stages. However, they retired on SS9 due to a technical issue and now trail an Alpine A110 Rally in the general classification. Clio Rally4 nevertheless secured a podium finish with Pauline Dalmasso and Marine Delon, who also finished second in the French Women’s Rally Championship.

Italian Junior Rally Championship

Winners of the previous round at Rally Adriatico, Davide Nicelli and Tiziano Pieri did it again this weekend at the San Marino Rally. The duo were for a long time behind Edoardo De Antoni and Martina Musiari, but they took the lead on the penultimate stage before winning by just 3.8 seconds. Mattia Zanin and Fabio Pizzol made it three podium finishes in as many starts this season. With this second consecutive win on gravel, Davide Nicelli is now only two points behind the general classification leader, Alessandro Casella, who finished fourth. Mattia Zanin is five points further back. The ACI Team Italia drivers and their Clio Rally5s will return to the tarmac for Rally di Roma Capitale (23-24 July).

FFSA French Junior Rallycross Championship

After Tom Le Jossec’s wins at Lessay and Faleyras, then Mathieu Frétin at Châteauroux, round four of the FFSA French Junior Rallycross Championship crowned a new winner in Valentin Lumet. In the top three in Normandy and Indre, the Masse Motorsport driver concluded a successful weekend with a victory. His biggest adversary, Tom Le Jossec didn’t make it easy for him, but the Vigion Promo Sport protégé had to settle for second place to keep the overall lead ahead of Luc Derrien, who finished third in Pont-de-Ruan - Saché. The next round of the 2022 campaign will take the competitors to Kerlabo on 30 and 31 July.

And elsewhere…

Clio Trophy Belgium leader Benoit Verlinde led a Clio Rally5 1-2-3 in RC5 and Rally5 with his co-driver Marc Vandemoortele in the GTC Rally (Netherlands). In Belgium, Danish driver Casper Nielsen and his Belgian co-driver Ward Hanssens won the 3G class at the TRB Shortrally ahead of another Clio Rally5 with Niels Reynvoet and Jens De Splenter. Clio Rally4 also excelled in the Benelux, in the hands of Elbert Deij and David Marchal, second overall in the Jumbo Short Rally and victorious in RC4.

In France, Romain Perrin and Albin Goutry-André won Rallye de Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise in Rally5. At the same time, Filip Ocelka and Jaroslav Blažek led a 1-2 in RC5 for Clio Rally5 at Rally Bohemia (Czech Republic), where Jiří Rybák and Jiří Hlávka in a Clio Rally4 finished on the podium of the RC4 I class. Lastly, Poland’s Grzegorz Bonder and Kamil Heller won in LARČ4 at Rally Žemaitija (Lithuania) and are now third of the Polish two-wheel-drive Rally Championship.

Coming up

This week, the Clio Cup will head to the Mugello circuit for a joint meeting with Clio Cup Italia and Clio Cup France. Nearly fifty competitors are expected to be in action at the home of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from 15 to 17 July. Meanwhile, round two of Clio Trophy Ecuador will be part of Rally Ecuatoriano (15-16 July).