It has been a long wait for the Clio Trophy France competitors since the Rallye Cœur de France last September and with many Clio crews entered on several fronts in the Touquet, all of them will have to focus on their racing intelligence and talent to shine this week!

Who will win the 2020 Clio Trophy France?

Disrupted by the pandemic and its consequences on the events scheduled last year, the 2020 Clio Trophy France season will conclude on the roads of Pas-de-Calais.

With a fourth and second-place results in the first two rounds of the calendar, Guillaume Canivenq leads the general classification but he will have to keep an eye on his closest pursuers. Romain Di Fante and Anthony Fotia, who respectively won in Morzine and Vendôme, will battle for the title and top Junior driver honours, the latter being synonymous of an official Clio Rally4 programme.

Respectively nine and ten points behind the leader, Rémy Jouines and Romain Fostier also intend to create a surprise and snatch away the crown, as do Thomas Chauffray, Antoine Massé and Junior Maxime Braesch, all of whom are still mathematically in contention for the title.

The first special stage on Saturday morning will be of decisive importance as it will host the Power Stage and its bonus points, which could swing the title race and the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage classification. In the latter, Romain Di Fante, Thomas Chauffray and Guillaume Canivenq lead the way, but Anthony Fotia and Antoine Massé are just one point behind. Rémy Jouines is three adrift, and Romain Fostier is four back with five points up for grabs!

In the team standings and Renault Dealership Challenge, Europe Location and Renault Rodez Groupe Fabre are on top, but everything can change on the roads of northern France!

Thirty-six crews to kick-off the Clio Trophy France Asphalte

The success of Clio Rally5 is undeniable and many of France’s top rally teams, such as Sarrazin Motorsport, Europe Location, Chazel Technologie Course, TM Compétition, Fun Mecasport, and Sébastien Loeb Racing will be at the start of the Clio Trophy France Asphalte!

Among the favourites, there will be the competitors already in contention for the 2020 title and their former opponents, except for those who have chosen to focus on the 2020 finale. The field is bolstered by several talented contenders, including Styve Juif, second in the 2019 Clio R3T Trophy Alps, and Spain’s Joan Sabater. Several Belgians are coming to prepare for the Clio Trophy Belgium, including Gilles Pyck, the 2019 Belgian Junior Championship runner-up, Benoît Verlinde, second in the RC5 category on the 2021 Rallye Monte-Carlo, and Tom Rensonnet, a RACB National Team member.

It promises to be an intense battle in the Junior category. The crews that showed great potential in 2020 will take on Belgian and Spanish hopefuls. There will also be an influx of ambitious new drivers like Tom Pieri and Julien Pontal, who both have prior experience in the French Junior Rally Championship, or Jérémy Sarhy, who earned his stripes in French circuit racing.

Sylvain Fouteret and Richard Paget, who are regulars in the Coupe de France des Rallyes will compete in the Gentlemen’s category while Margot Dupuy will be the only female driver on the entry list.

First outing for Clio Rally 4 in France!

Clio Rally 4 has already competed on the roads of Monte Carlo and the Targa Florio and it now will make its debut in France on Rallye Le Touquet - Pas-de-Calais with the duo of Jean-Sébastien Vigion and Manon Verger.

Before taking on the impressive field on the Touquet, the Vigion Promo Sport crew turned heads last weekend in mixing it up with the four-wheel-drive cars to finish fifth on Rallye Cieux-Monts de Blond. On the strength of this impressive showing, Jean-Sébastien Vigion now aims to confirm the full potential of Renault’s new model for customer racing on the French constructor’s home turf.

Rallye Le Touquet – Pas-de-Calais will start in the morning of Friday 28 May. Two identical loops of three special stages await the competitors for the longest leg of the rally. On Saturday, the crews will face five different timed sectors without assistance, starting with the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage. The 11 timed sectors will total 163.36 kilometres of action on a rally route of 385.88 km.

Rallye Le Touquet – Pas-de-Calais entry list

2020 Clio Trophy France
#61 Guillaume Canivenq - Bastien Dumas
#62 Romain Di Fante - Patrick Chiappe (J)
#63 Anthony Fotia - Didier Sirugue (J)
#64 Remy Jouines - Valentin Auge
#65 Romain Fostier - Ophelie Abchiche
#66 Thomas Chauffray - Anthony Hamard
#67 Antoine Masse - Marc Haddad
#68 Maxime Braesch - Loick Andre (J)
#69 Maxime Delhommeau - Melvin Fraigne
#71 Julien Baziret - Delphine Laval
#73 Benjamin Stirling - Florence Wehrey (J)
#75 Damien Mattei - Romain Garel (J)
#79 Sebastien Rambaud - Aurelien Frejefond (J)
#85 Frederic Perrard - Francois Gilbert (G)
#91 Margot Dupuy - Clio Chambelland (F)
#94 Emilien Sanlaville - Amaury Sanlaville (J)

2021 Clio Trophy France Asphalte
#61 Guillaume Canivenq - Bastien Dumas
#62 Romain Di Fante - Patrick Chiappe (J)
#64 Remy Jouines - Valentin Auge
#65 Romain Fostier - Ophelie Abchiche
#66 Thomas Chauffray - Anthony Hamard
#67 Antoine Masse - Marc Haddad
#68 Maxime Braesch - Loick Andre (J)
#69 Maxime Delhommeau - Melvin Fraigne
#70 Styve Juif - Maxime Biegalke
#71 Julien Baziret - Delphine Laval
#72 Julien Pontal - Loan Biagetti (J)
#73 Benjamin Stirling - Florence Wehrey (J)
#74 Gilles Pyck - Emile Mourisse (J)
#75 Damien Mattei - Romain Garel (J)
#76 Jeremy Sarhy - Maxime Vilmot (J)
#77 Benoit Verlinde - Anton Dupan (J)
#78 Louis Durand - Kevin Bruyere (J)
#79 Sebastien Rambaud - Aurelien Frejefond (J)
#80 Niels Reynvoet - Willem Verbeke (J)
#81 Sylvain Fouteret - Thomas Rollion (G)
#82 Valentin Ascenzi - William Hanoq
#83 Jerome Janny - Clement Gutierrez
#84 Tom Pieri - Arnaud Dunand (J)
#86 Melvin Rabilloud - Sebastien Dos Reis (J)
#87 Tom Rensonnet - Renaud Herman (J)
#88 Corentin Dozot - Kevin Delonge (J)
#89 Battistu Ceccaldi - Francois Xavier Buresi (J)
#90 Pierre Manuel Brasseur - Marc Sevrin
#91 Margot Dupuy - Clio Chambelland (F)
#92 Joan Sabater - Guifre Pujol (J)
#93 Bertrand Blondel La Rougery - Mathieu Coppa (J)
#94 Emilien Sanlaville - Amaury Sanlaville (J)
#95 Francois Fraymouth - Romain Felicelli
#96 Christophe Gouville - Thomas Coustenoble
#97 Richard Paget - Sebastien Poujol (G)
#98 Benoit Schulz - Fabien Ponchant

(J): Juniors
(G): Gentlemen
(F): Females