Less than three weeks after the resumption of the season, the Clio Trophy France Asphalte headed to Vendôme for the penultimate round of the season. After recce in mixed conditions, Julien Deslauries Sablonnière, Valentin Ascenzi, Guillaume Hanique and Raphaël Monnier each won a tyre in the draw organised by Ceerta, Michelin Motorsport’s official distributor in the French Rally Championship.

Valentin Ascenzi was the first to make his mark on the partially wet roads on Saturday, before making a mistake in the second stage. Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière, the leader in the general classification coming into the weekend, took the lead with the fastest times in SS2 and SS3, reaching the first service park with a 1.8s gap over Yoan Corberand. In search of points after Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine, Corberand went on the offensive when the action resumed, but his rival fought back to close the gap to 0.6s. Behind the two leaders, Melvin Rabilloud lost a lot of time with a puncture in SS4, leaving Lucas Zielinski and Tom Vauclare to battle for third place.

The fierce battle between Yoan Corberand and Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière continued on Sunday, with tenths of a second separating them. With a slight advantage of just over a second at the start of the decisive loop, Yoan Corberand went faster than Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière in the last three stages to go on to win by 6.0s.

The battle for third place on the podium and victory in the Junior category went to Lucas Zielinski, 17.4s ahead of Tom Vauclare. Jean-Claude Pietri gained several positions in the final kilometres to finish fifth, followed by Alex Florenson and Yohan Roumieux, who were once again in the top ten. Yohan Codaccioni finished eighth, ahead of Louis Gass and Paul Dachicourt, who took four stage wins after losing more than three minutes in a ditch in SS1. Charlotte Olea claimed her fourth consecutive victory in the Women’s category, as did Pascal Bérard after a thrilling duel with Franck Giraud in the Gentlemen’s category.

With this second victory of the year, Yoan Corberand is now 23 points behind Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière, who has reduced his deficit to 22 points in the Performer Jean Ragnotti classification. In the team’s classification, Autocantal Compétition has slightly increased its lead, while Groupe Bertrand has widened the gap in the Renault Network Challenge. Despite a shortened first leg, Christophe Truchet takes the lead in the new Clio Full Challenge, introduced this year to reward versatility on multiple surfaces.

In addition to the trophy, Antoine Bordagaray and Antoine Loiseau won in RC3 in their Clio Rally3, whilst Quentin Ribaud and Loan Biagetti secured their third victory of the season in the Michelin Amateurs Trophy in their Clio Rally4. The latest creation from the Dieppe and Viry-Châtillon departments, the Alpine A290 Rallye was also present in the service park ahead of its competitive debut at the Rallye National de l’Indre (8-9 November).

The Clio Trophy France Asphalte competitors will head to Sainte-Maxime for the season finale, the Rallye du Var (27-29 November), where the points awarded will carry a 1.5 coefficient.

Yoan Corberand : “I’m really happy with this win, which rewards all the hard work put in to rebuild the car in just about two weeks. It allows us to bounce back, and it was crucial to finish ahead of Julien to keep our title hopes alive. On this round, there was no such thing as management. With the pace Julien and Amandine were setting, we quickly understood we had to go flat out. It was intense, and I think both of us made a few questionable drives throughout the weekend ! The fight is still wide open, even though I’ve already used my joker and can’t afford any mistakes now. With the worst score dropped at the end of the season, we’d currently have around a twenty-point lead, so overall it’s pretty satisfying.”

Clio Trophy France Asphalte – Rallye Cœur de France
1. Yoan Corberand – Pauline Compozieux 1h54m50.1s
2. Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière – Amandine Brunel +6.0s
3. Lucas Zielinski – Ewen Leenhardt (J) +1m07.4s
4. Tom Vauclare – Frédéric Vauclare (J) +1m24.9s
5. Jean-Claude Pietri – Jean-François Muselli (J) +2m06.1s
6. Alex Florenson – Charline Dichamp (J) +2m22s
7. Yohan Roumieux – Bastien Fontaine +2m32.7s
8. Yohan Codaccioni – Hugo Olivier (J) +2m39.3s
9. Louis Gass – Alison Girard (J) +3m27.3s
10. Paul Dachicourt – Adèle Dachicourt (J) +3m56.8s
11. Jérôme Janny – Helena Pecheur +4m06.6s
12. Melvin Rabilloud – Enzo Mahinc (J) +4m47.8s
13. Charlotte Olea – Cécile Pages (J, F) +5m40.3s
14. Calvin Lucas – Julie Plat (J) +5m50.9s
15. Pascal Bérard – Caroline Bérard (G) +5m57.7s
16. Franck Giraud – Christophe Dubien (G) +6m05.1s
17. Willy Mathey – Nelly Guille (G) +8m36.6s
18. Emma Chalvin – Charline Quartini (J, F) +8m42.6s
19. David Panteix – Lou Cardot (J) +9m16.9s
20. Laurent Lambert – Yannick Le Moing (G) +10m08.8s
21. Jacques Bourrat – Jean Bourrat (G) +10m18.4s
22. Christophe Lucas – Yohann Marilleau (G) +11m00.4s
23. Philippe Janvier – Julie Derory (G) +12m56.2s
24. Clémentine Benoit – Éric De Bolle (J,F) +13m42.3s
25. Guillaume Hanique – Philippe Vandevelde +21m10.9s
26. Christophe Truchet – Barbara Truchet +1h13m05.4s
DNF. Marius Bureau – Romain Depeux (J)
DNF. Raphaël Monnier – Jean-François Hugon (G)
DNF. Thomas Bordagaray – Brice Ricou
DNF. Sylvain Lenne – Nathan Chalendar
DNF. Alexandre Roux – Séverine Sarrazin
DNF. Amaury Facchinetti – Emma Bonnemort (J)
DNF. Valentin Ascenzi – Yannis Gosselin (J)
DNF. Maxence Girard – Maxime Cotte-Colisson (J)
DNS. Maxime Delhommeau – Matteo Richard

Clio Trophy France Asphalte - Jean Ragnotti Performer standings - Teams classification - Renault Network Challenge - Clio Full Challenge