Clio Ice Trophy

Season four of the Clio Ice Trophy got underway at the Pas de la Casa Circuit in Andorra on Saturday, 21 December. Charlie Fréard (WRM/SRD Team) was quickest in Q2 to score maximum intermediate points and went on to win the A Final ahead of Baptiste Panissié (WRM/SRD Team) and Pierre Paul Baltolu (Team Dufas). The Frenchman thus took the overall lead ahead of Antonio Otero (Puzzle Motor), defending champion and winner of the B Final ahead of Juan Manuel Grigera (Driveland) and Thomas Leal (Team Dufas). Competitors will return to the battle this Saturday on a different configuration of the Andorran circuit for round two.

French Rally Cup

The Ronde du Jura saw Ludovic Godard win overall in his Clio Rally3 debut in perfect snow conditions. Co-driven by Matthieu Bôle-Richard, he won three of the six special stages, beating the Clio Rally3 of Thomas Benier and Gaëlle Piat and the numerous Rally2 entries. Aurélien Cart and Thomas Chauffray completed the Renault hat-trick in Rally3. At the same time, the Jean-Paul Monnin - Melvin Fraigne and Laurent Borderie - Amandine Borderie crews led Clio Rally4 and Clio Rally5 to victory in their respective classes.

And elsewhere…

Over the holidays, Clio Rally3 excelled in Spain with second place overall and class victory for José Bello Rodríguez and Rayco Hernández Regalado at the Rally Show Tenerife Costa Adeje. Clio Rally5 also won in Italy, with Luca Pierotti and Manuela Milli on Rally Il Ciocchetto and Eros Doria on Rally Christmas Autodromo Concordia.

The success continued into the New Year. On the Jännerrallye’s asphalt and snow-covered Austrian stages, Hermann Gaßner Jr and Michael Wenzel overcame the difficulties to win the RC3 by over two minutes and finish sixth overall, despite the 19 Rally2s in action. The German duo’s performance was also synonymous with victory in round one of the Austrian Rally Cup.

Coming up

This week, competitors in the Clio Ice Trophy will meet again for the season’s second meeting. Meanwhile, Clio Cup Middle East returns to the Dubai Autodrome, where Britain’s Harry Hannam leads the way after winning the first four races of the 2024-2025 calendar.

Photos : Sylvain Henry / Pleine Corde (1), Andbank GSeries / Clio Ice Trophy (2, 3, 4)