Clio Cup Series

Frenchman Nicolas Milan and Italian Felice Jelmini picked up a win a piece in an action-packed fifth round of the season at Misano World Circuit.

On Saturday, Nicolas Milan demonstrated why he is the leader of the Clio Cup Europe as he got the better of the Italian leaders before Felice Jelmini’s reply the following day. As Nicolas Milan was ineligible to score points in this round of the Clio Cup Italia, Felice Jelmini continued his invincibility among the rest of the Italian contingent to widen the gap to his pursuers led by Gabriele Torelli. Giacomo Trebbi and Quinto Stefana took the lead in the Challengers Cup and Gentlemen Drivers Cup.

Round three of the Clio Cup Italia will take place at Mugello (15-17 July). Clio Cup Spain will be in action this weekend in Valencia (10-12 June).

Clio Trophy Swiss

Round two of the Clio Trophy Swiss saw Ismaël Vuistiner and Florine Kummer win Rallye du Chablais. Mathieu Walter and Thibault Raincourt set the pace from the start, building up a 30-second lead after seven stages, but the Frenchmen crashed out on SS8. Ismaël Vuistiner and Florine Kummer then took the lead and went on to win and take the lead in the 2022 Clio Trophy Swiss provisional classification. The duo was followed by Guillaume Girolamo and Benjamin Bétrisey, second and winners of round two of the Swiss Junior Rally Championship, while Cédric Baiker - Pierre Dupont completed the podium. Meanwhile, Clio Rally4 excelled on the same roads in the hands of Aurélien Devanthery - Gaël Delasoie, seventh overall - and winners of the Michelin Alps Trophy in their category - ahead of the similar model of Sacha Althaus - Lisiane Zbinden. The summer break begins for the Clio Trophy Swiss crews, who will be back in action on Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine from September 8-10.

Clio Trophy Canarias

Winners of the inaugural round of the Clio Trophy Canarias last month on Rally Islas Canarias, Alejandro Martín and Daniel Rosario doubled up on Rally Isla de Gran Canaria. Trailing after the first special stage, the duo won the following nine timed sectors to win with a 1:21.2s margin of victory over Manuel Hernández Padrón and David Bethencourt ; who took second place from Sebastián and Adrián Gil on the penultimate test. Alejandro Martín and Daniel Rosario increase their lead in the general classification over Manuel Hernández Padrón and David Bethencourt ; who are now second after their podium finish and the retirement of Marcos Martín and Armando Rivero on SS5. The next round will be Rally Ciudad de La Laguna (July 29-30).

FIA World Rally Championship

Timothy van Parijs and Kurt Heyndrickx won in RC4 on Rally Italia Sardegna to give Renault its fifth win of the season in the World Rally Championship. Having already won this year’s World Rally Championship in the hands of Anthony Fotia in Monte Carlo and Portugal, Clio Rally4 was at the top of its class from the start. The Belgian duo won the first two stages before taking the lead on SS11, then avoided the hazards of an exceptionally difficult course to win with a dominating 3:32.6s margin of victory.

Elsewhere…

In the French Rally Cup, Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 scored a RC4-RC5 double on Rallye des Ardennes with Fabrice Martin - Gabrielle Genet and Sylvain Fouteret - Xavier Lefebvre respectively, as well as Rallye du Laragnais with Jean-Baptiste Franceschi - Amandine Houry and Jules Escartefigue - Loan Biagetti. In addition to a third group win with Antoine Bordagaray - Pierre Renault at Rallye du Val de Sèvre, Clio Rally5 also won in its class with Benoît Albouy - Jody Alméras on Rallye de Saint-Geniez-d’Olt, Enzo Beschet - Pierrot Rousselet one Rallye de la Luronne and Julien Duhamel - Killian Falaise on Rallye du Tréport.

Meanwhile, Riccardo Gandolfi - Serena Vacchieri led Clio Rally5 to victory on Rally Valle d’Aosta (Italy), beating the similar model of Alessandro Botta - Roberto Aresca, winner in the under 23category. Fourth in Rally5, Alessia Fornaca and Elena Savarino also finished second in the Women’s category, trailing only a four-wheel drive Rally2. Lastly, Clio Rally5 swept the podium in the Czech Republic with Jiří Hladík - Richard Lasevič winning ahead of Aleš Hemerka - Patrik Hemerka and Petr Hanuš - Milan Klička on the Lak Racing Rallye Plzeň.

Coming up

This week, Clio Cup Spain heads to the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia (10-12 June). On the rally front, Clio Trophy Spain will be in action in round two of its season on the Naron Rally (June 9-11), while six Clio Rally4s are entered for the Rajd Polski as part of the FIA European Rally Championship. Lastly, Romain Di-Fante will contest the fourth round of his official FFSA French Rally Championship two-wheel drive programme on Rallye Vosges Grand Est (June 9-11).