Clio Cup Series

The second meeting of the year marked the debut of the Clio Cup Europe and Clio Cup Spain at the Circuito de Madrid Jarama RACE, a track closely linked to Renault’s history in Spanish racing.

On the Madrilenian track, Anthony Jurado was unstoppable, winning both races to take the lead of Clio Cup Europe ahead of Marc Guillot, twice second. David Pouget and Nicolas Milan followed in the general classification with a podium each. Poland’s Jerzy Spinkiewicz scored a brace of victories in the Challengers Cup, beating Mathieu Lannepoudenx and Guillaume Maio on Saturday, then Alex Lahoz and Mathieu Lannepoudenx on Sunday. Quinto Stefana and René Steenmetz scored a category win apiece in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup and are all square a top the Clio Cup Europe category.

Amongst the competitors entered in Clio Cup Spain, Alex Royo was the fastest, winning first against Adrian Schimpf and Jordi Palomeras, then ahead of Alex Lahoz and Jordi Palomeras the following day. The 2017 Clio Cup Spain title-winner left Jarama with a 28-point lead over Jordi Palomeras and Challengers Cup leader Alex Lahoz. With his double success in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup, Fabien Julia now leads this class ahead of Gabriel Alonso and Joaquin Rodrigo ahead of round two of Clio Cup Spain at Magny-Cours (14-15 May).

The Clio Cup will next head to Imola (6-8 May) for round three of the year, which will also be round two of Clio Cup Europe and the start of Clio Cup Italia.

More information here.

Clio Trophy Italia

The Clio Trophy Italia debuted with its new format in the Italian Asphalt Rally Championship (CIRA) on Rally Elba.

Leading from the first timed sector, Giovanni Marco Lanzalaco and Antonio Marchica won the seven stages to win with a 56.4-second margin of victory over Andrea Scalzotto & Nicola Rutigliano, themselves 57.9 seconds ahead of Alex Ferrari & Stefano Costi. The duo of Corrado Peloso & Paolo Carrucciu closed the gap in an event where all the Clio Rally5s at the start reached the finish and dominated the Rally5 category.

Meanwhile, Riccardo Pederzani and Roberto Mometti’s Clio Rally4 won the Under 25 category and finished second in their class.

The next meeting of the Clio Trophy Italia will take place on Rally della Marca (17-18 June).

And elsewhere…

Reigning Croatian champion Viliam Prodan was behind the wheel of a Clio Rally4 for his FIA World Rally Championship home round on Rally Croatia. With co-driver Zoran Raštegorac, the Croatian finished fourth in RC4 after steadily improving his position with seven top three times despite the tricky conditions.

In Latin America, Uruguayan Rodrigo Fialho and co-driver Rodrigo Arbiza led Clio Rally5 to victory in RC4 on Speedagro Rally Argentina. Championship leaders after their success in the season-opener in Paraguay, Luigi Contin and Federico Rodríguez were dominating the category before having to climb back up after retiring on stage one. Their efforts were rewarded with second place points among the competitors entered in FIA CODASUR4. Staying in South America, Peruvians Javier Arce and Mario Acosta won on home soil in Clio Rally5 on Rally Rutas del Sol.

In the French Rally Cup, Benjamin and Florence Stirling finished sixth overall and won their class with Clio Rally5 on Rallye du Florival. Théo Apchie and Aurélie Vedrine did the same in RC5 on the Rallye de Quercy, as did Dominique Patenotte, codriven by Clio Trophy France Asphalte leader Thomas Chauffray on Rallye du Bassin Annonéen.

In Italy, Ivan Melchiori & Giordano Corradini and Armando Betta & Mattia Righetti gave Clio Rally5 a one-two finish in its category on the Dolomiti Brenta Rally. Meanwhile, Alessandro Rota Conti and Ruggero Grigis led a Clio Rally5 1-2-3-4 on Rally Prealpi Orobiche whilst Joaquim Bernardes and Laurinda Alves won their class with Clio Rally5 on Rali de Gondomar in Portugal.

In Poland, the Clio Rally4 of Grzegorz Bonder & Kamil Heller finished eighth overall on the Samochodowe Grand Prix Świdnicy - Wiosna / Rajd Świdnicki, despite two penalties dropping them out of the top five. In the Czech Republic, the Clio Rally5 of Aleš Hemerka & Patrik Hemerka finished on the podium on Rally Hořovice, whilst Nico Knacker & Enrico Flores-Trigo finished fifth in the opening round of the German two-wheel-drive Championship with Clio Rally4.

In the first edition of the Rally Solo Clio dedicated to the several generations of the namesake car, Pablo Martínez and Beatriz Lois won ahead of Miguel &Roberto Arias and Iñaki Echevarría & Álvaro Castro. Still in Spain, Sergio Fuentes and Alain Peña led Clio Rally4 to sixth place overall on Rally Orvecame Norte and victory in their category.

Coming up

Co-leader in the French two-wheel-drive championship, Romain Di-Fante will contest the second rally of his official Clio Rally4 programme this week on the Rhône-Charbonnières Rally (28-30 April). Belgian Gilles Pyck will do the same on Rallye de Wallonie (29 April - 1 May), which will also host round two of the Clio Trophy Belgium. Lastly, Clio RX will be back in action at the season-opener of the French Junior Rallycross Championship, which will launch the race to succeed David Bouet (30 April - 1 May).