French Rally Cup

Amongst the 13 crews present with Clio Rally4 or Clio Rally5 at the Rallye de la Vienne, Philippe and Alexandra Rageau drove to a superb third place overall in Clio Rally4. Mattéo Chatillon and Brice Ricou also caused a sensation with Clio Rally5, finishing one position and only 16 seconds behind. The two pairs completed a one-two finish in the two-wheel drive category with a hat-trick for Rally4 and a sweep of the top seven for Rally5. A few days before the Rallye Le Touquet Pas-de-Calais, Mattéo Chatillon was not the only Clio Trophy France Asphalte competitor to gain confidence as Matthieu Fassio and Eddy Jabeneau dominated a Clio Rally5 top five on the Rallye de l’Hérault.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Miclo and Jérémy Lanthermann led Clio Rally4 to success on the Rallye de Printemps, as did Manon Dauphin and Stéphane Moulin with Clio Rally5 on the Rallye des Monts Dôme. Lastly, Clio Rally5 claimed a one-two finish on the Rallye Aiacciu Corsica Suttana, with Pierre-Paul Baltolu - Luna Barbier and Jean-François Poli - Stéphane Damerval, and the Rallye de Brocéliande with Sylvain Alanore - Flora Mercière and Franck Megret - Anthony Gouin.

And elsewhere

The FIA European Rally Championship and Portuguese national championship opened their seasons with the Rally Serras de Fafe. Clio Rally4 finished third in RC4 with Hugo Lopes and Tiago Neves on the famous gravel stages, while Clio Rally5 scored a one-two in RC5. Thanks to their success ahead of the duo of João Colaço and Alexandre Rodrigues, Gonçalo Henriques and António Santos lead the Portuguese Junior Rally Championship.

In the Italian Rally Championship (CIAR), Lorenzo Lorallini and Andrea Musolesi won the Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio with Clio Rally5, where Gabriele Catalini and Maicol Rossi led a lockout of the top five for the model in the CRZ version of the event.

Meanwhile, five Clio Rally5s competed in the Rally FFF, the opening round of the Ecuadorian Rally Championship. Those entrusted to the teams formed by Sebastian Leonardo Guerrero Maldonado - Edgar Ignacio Parreño and John Paul Gonzalez Orellana - Luis Felipe Valverde Larrea were the best in the RC5 category while finishing sixth and ninth overall.

Coming up

This week, the Clio Trophy France Asphalte will begin season four at the Rallye Le Touquet - Pas-de-Calais with 38 crews starting with Clio Rally5. Tom Pieri will also launch his official programme with Clio Rally4 in the French Rally Championship as Benoit Verlinde will do the same in the Belgian Rally Championship on the South Belgian Rally. Meanwhile, 16 competitors will be in action at Rally Sierra Morena for the first round of the Clio Trophy Spain Asfalto, whilst four Clio Rally5s will compete on the gravel at Rally Guanajuato México - the scene of its competitive debut in 2020 - in the FIA NACAM Rally Championship.