Clio Cup Series

The return to action in the Clio Cup went to the advantage of Nicolas Milan and Anthony Jurado. While Jerzy Spinkiewicz was the fastest in the rain on Saturday morning, Nicolas Milan took over in the dry to win the first race against his teammate Anthony Jurado and the Polish Challenger. Eighth on the starting grid the following day, Anthony Jurado put in a stunning performance on Sunday to win ahead of Nicolas Milan and Challenger Alexandre Albouy. Meanwhile, Jérémy Bordagaray and Pierre Monmaneix shared the honours in the Gentlemen Drivers Cup. The next meeting is this week at the Red Bull Ring (8-11 September).

FFSA French Junior Rallycross Championship

French Junior FFSA Rallycross Championship leader Tom Le Jossec won on his home track in Lohéac. Despite a hitch in the first round, the local driver put in a perfect performance to score his fourth victory in six starts and take his first step towards the title to succeed David Bouet, the winner this weekend in the S1600 category. Second in the general classification, Mathieu Frétin earned his third podium by finishing second in front of Valentin Lumet, consistent during the meeting. Enzo Boscher and Bryan Dufas completed the top five. Mathys Delecour put in a fine showing, finishing ninth in his very first race in motorsport. The Clio RXs will be back in action at the Circuit de Mayenne on 17 and 18 September.

Clio Trophy Belgium

Four months after the Rallye de Wallonie, the Clio Trophy Belgium returned at the Omloop van Vlaanderen. On the tricky roads around Roeselare, Clio Rally5 demonstrated again its perfect reliability as all ten crews entered reached the finish. Casper Nielsen and Ward Hanssens won for the first time ahead of the trophy leaders Benoit Verlinde and Anton Dupan. The podium was completed by Jeroen Catelin and Christof Duyck. The gaps in the general classification between the three duos are now narrower, with Benoit Verlinde only twelve points ahead of Casper Nielsen and Jeroen Catelin another nine points back.

Gilles Pyck was also behind the wheel of a Clio Rally4 on the same stages. The inaugural Clio Trophy Belgium winner beat defending champion Charles Munster convincingly to score maximum points and consolidate his lead in the Belgian Junior Rally Championship.

Elsewhere…

In the French Rally Cup, Renault scored a double victory on the Rallye de la Vésubie with Pauline Dalmasso - Mélissa Declerck in Clio Rally4 and Matthieu Bernal - Romain Giordan leading a Clio Rally5 1-2-3 in its category. Both models achieved a similar feat at the Rallye du Pays de Saint-Yrieix with Romain Auvert - Maxime Belivier winning Rally4 and a sweep of the top four led by Florian Bartaire - Marjolaine Patier in Rally5. Clio Rally5 also won the Rallye Cigalois with Thierry Tondut - Brice Brun, Rallye du Cantal with Hervé Lajarrige - Emma Lajarrige and the Rallye des Côtes de Lumière with Antoine Bordagaray - Pierre Renault.

In Italy, Marco Zanin and Christian Camazzola led a podium lockout for Clio Rally5 on Rally del Friuli Venezia Giulia, whilst the Croatian duo of Viliam Prodan and Zoran Raštegorac led Clio Rally4 to the podium in their class. Rally di Casciana Terme also saw a one-two-three finish for Clio Rally5, this time led by Nicolaj Ciofolo and Matteo Sala.

Clio Rally5 did even better in Romania as Constantin Tudose and Teodor-Gabriel Găină emerged on top of a Clio Rally5 quadruple at Raliul Iasului while taking second place in the Romanian Junior Rally Championship. Meanwhile, Clio Rally5 also had a one-two finish led by Miguel Abrantes and Filipe Carvalho at Rali da Água - CIM Alto Tâmega (Portugal) and another by Jiří Hladík and Richard Lasevič at Rally Vyškov.

Coming up

This week, Clio Trophy France Asphalte will be back in action Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine (8-10 September), where Thomas Chauffray will have an opportunity to clinch the title against 50 other crews. Clio Trophy Swiss will also be in the Alps for the third of its five rounds. Clio Trophy Spain will head to Rally Blendio Princesa de Asturias Ciudad de Oviedo (September 8-10) to close out the first half of its season. Clio Trophy Italia will hold its penultimate round on Rally San Martino di Castrozza (September 9-10).

On the circuit side, the Clio Cup returns to the Red Bull Ring this Thursday (8-11 September) for round six of Clio Cup Europe, round four of Clio Cup Italia and round five of the Clio Cup Eastern Europe with more than 40 cars competing in Austria.