Clio Cup Series

Round seven of the season saw Gabriele Torelli win both races on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The Italian has taken a significant step towards a title that he could seal at the next race while also contributing to the coronation of Rangoni Corse in the team category. Meanwhile, Samuel Chaligne (T2CM) clinched the Clio Cup España Gentlemen category crown. The Clio Cup Series competitors head next to Circuit Paul Ricard (4-6 October) for the Clio Cup Italia, but also the Clio Cup France and Clio Cup Mid-Europe season finales.

More information here.

Clio Trophy Spain Tierra

Aritz Iriondo, co-driven by Joseba Sánchez, claimed his third victory of the year on the Rally Ciudad de Granada. The Basque native won ahead of the duo of Jordi Nualart and Daniel Rivera. Sixteen-year-old Frenchman Alexandre Villiod, navigated by Maëlle Casays, completed the podium. Aritz Iriondo will attempt to secure the title in the final round of the Clio Trophy Spain Tierra at RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada (18-19 October). Meanwhile, Clio Rally4 won the 2WD Spanish Trophy in the hands of Manuel Jesús Jiménez and Nacho Paz.

More information here.

Clio Trophy Portugal

Danny Carreira is the first-ever two-time winner in Clio Trophy Portugal. Co-driven by Marco Vilas Boas, the 23-year-old got the better of his rivals in the Rali da Água to take the trophy lead. Second-place finishers Gil Antunes and Diogo Correia will head into the season finale on equal points with the leaders. And while they missed out on the podium to Nuno Coelho and Ricardo Cunha, the tandem of Pedro Pereira Jr - Tiago Silva will still have a shot at the title on Rallye Vidreiro Centro (11-12 October).

More information here.

Italian Junior Rally Championship

With their victory in the Rally 1000 Miglia, Francesco Dei Ceci and Nicolò Lazzarini extended the Italian Junior Rally Championship title race. In the field composed entirely of Renault Clio Rally5s prepared by Motorsport Italia, the Rocca d’Evandro native beat Matteo Doretto and co-driver Marco Frigo by 6.8s to prolong the suspense until the season finale on Rally Sanremo (19-20 October). Third overall, Marco Zanin and Fabio Pizzol completed the podium.

More information here.

Clio Cup GB

Donington Park hosted round four of Clio Cup GB. Behind guest driver Will Orton, Nicky Taylor (Graves Motorsport) took a brace of wins ahead of Daire Flock (Westbourne Motorsport). Ben Jenkins (LDR Performance Tuning) completed the race one podium, followed by Ben Colburn (Westbourne Motorsport) a few hours later in race two. Thanks to his double success, Nicky Taylor now leads the general classification, six points clear of Daire Flock and seven ahead of Ben Colburn, heading to the next round at Oulton Park (28 September).

More information here.

French Rally Cup

Clio Rally3 caused a sensation by winning the Rallye du Pays Haut with Fabrice Martin. Co-driven by Marlène Thiriot, the Frenchman took the lead on SS3 and set five fastest times in ten stages to win by 46.4s. Clio Rally3 also excelled with Guillaume Tardy and Gwenola Marie, class winners and fourth overall on the Rallye du Haut-Lignon, where Clio Rally5 also finished in the top ten with Julien Sabatier and Brandon Masson. The same success was on show at the Ronde de l’Est, with wins for Dominique Hoarau - William Jourlin (Rally3) and Patrick Bellus - Vincent Sery (Rally5), as well as an outright top ten for Clio Rally4 with Frédéric Chane-Kai and Fabrice Macarty.

Also in France, Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 won at the Rallye de Lisieux Normandie with Dorian Deslandes - Léa Pustelnik and Sébastien Alemany - Emma Alemany. The Rallye du Pays de Saint-Yrieix was an identical double win with Franck Chaput - Aurélien Tournebize and Romain Auvert - Maxime Belivier. Clio Rally4 also set the pace on the Rallye des Jardins de Sologne with class wins for Éric Mauduit and Flavien Rateau. Lastly, Clio Rally5 dominated its class on the Rallye du Pays de Fayence with Frédéric Chiapello and Gérard Caillard, the Rallye de Corte Centre Corse with Anthony and Philippa Dominici and the Rallye de la Haute-Saône with Quentin and Lucas Marinho.

And elsewhere…

Clio Rally3 starred on the Rallye Terre de Découverte, finishing fifth overall in the hands of Anaël Cayla and Rémi Nolorgues. On the same stages, Alexandre Gransagne and Loïc Maurel followed their first Clio Trophy France Terre podium by leading a Clio Rally5 sweep of the top six in its class.

In the Turkish Championship, Hakkı Ağaoğlu and Ali Tugrul Kaya finished on the RC3 podium on the Esok Rally with Clio Rally3, which also sprayed the champagne in the Women’s category with Eda Soylu and Yusuf Çalik. Alberto Sassi and Mirco Mazzini scored a category win in their Clio Rally3 on Rally Appennino Reggiano in Italy. The Federico Francia - Chiara Lombardi and Erica Ranalli - Emanuele Mischi duos won respectively in Rally5 and the Women’s category with Clio Rally5.

Lastly, Clio Rally5 scored class wins on Rally Dobšiná (Slovakia) with Stanislav Zeman and Ján Konfal Gert Marboe Jensen on Mesterskab Øst 4 (Denmark) and Rubén Muñoz Roselló and Javier Martínez Romero on Rally Les Masies de Voltregà (Spain).

Coming up

Two events will mark the week, with Clio Trophy Galicia at the Rally Ourense-Ribeira Sacra (20-21 September) and the next battle among the Clio RXs in the French Junior Rallycross Championship at the Circuit Maurice Forget near Mayenne (21-22 September).