Less than a week after the Clio Trophy France Terre, the Clio Trophy France Asphalte returned to action at Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine. A 42-car-strong Clio Rally5 field was present to mark the halfway point of the season.

After recce, shakedown and scrutineering, the action got underway on Friday on partially wet roads. Clio Trophy France Asphalte leader Yoan Corberand got caught out in the early stages and lost more than 25 minutes. Among his rivals, Lucas Zielinski made the right choice of Michelin tyres and won the first two special stages. Determined to bounce back after a disappointing start to the year and consistently in the top spots in the afternoon, the PH Sport driver then increased his lead to 11.3s over a compact chase group led by Romain Fostier.

Third on Saturday morning, Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière went on the offensive between Lullin and Orcier to move into second place. While Yoan Corberand and Tom Vauclare shared the best times on the following stages, the Autocantal Compétition driver pushed hard to reduce his deficit to 9.4s. Under threat, Lucas Zielinski fought back in La Côte d’Arbroz, but a puncture in the next timed section ended his hopes.

Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière inherited the lead and controlled the action perfectly in Samoëns – Morzine and Montriond-le-Lac – Avoriaz, sealing his second consecutive victory and the fourth Clio Trophy France Asphalte success of his career. Tom Vauclare came out on top in the battle among the chase group to claim his maiden Junior category win. Third-placed Romain Fostier secured his fourth podium finish in six years in the event with Clio Rally5. After Jean-Claude Pietri’s problems in the final loop, Lucas Zielinski moved up to fourth place ahead of Alex Florenson, Paul Dachicourt and Melvin Rabilloud, all of whom confirmed their rise in form over the course of the rally. Anthony Diel, Yohan Roumieux and Kévin Duc completed the top ten, while Pascal Bérard (Gentlemen) and Charlotte Olea (Women) won again in their respective classes.

On the strength of this triumph, Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière moves to the top of the Clio Trophy France Asphalte standings with a 30-point lead over Yoan Corberand. With six best times, the latter retains the lead in the "Performer Jean Ragnotti" classification. Autocantal Compétition now leads the team classification thanks to Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière’s success, while Groupe Bertrand saw its lead reduced in the Renault Network Challenge.

The event also saw Guillaume Tardy and Caroline Puel led a Clio Rally3 sweep of the top five in RC3. Clio Rally4 also enjoyed success with Quentin Ribaud and Loan Biagetti in the Michelin Amateur Trophy. Coming up through the Clio Trophy France ranks, Matteo Chatillon and Maxence Cornuau also made their mark with the Alpine A290 Rallye’s first demonstration appearance ahead of its competitive debut scheduled for later this year.

The Clio Trophy France Asphalte will reconvene in less than three weeks for the Rallye Cœur de France, based in Vendôme from 26 to 28 September.

Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière : "We approach every rally the same way : by attacking first, then focusing on consistency. Lucas was very strong on each stage, and Yoan scored the most Performer Jean Ragnotti points. We preferred to play it safe and consistent, which paid off. A big thanks to the Autocantal Compétition team and all the partners who made it possible. With Amandine, our main challenge was to ward off bad luck after our retirement last year in Joux Plane, where we had to wait for nine hours. We did not want to experience that again, and we succeeded. This win bodes well for the future, despite the increasingly fierce and fast competition. We will try to keep up the momentum at Cœur de France, where we will have to drive hard to rack up as many points as possible before the season finale in the Var."

Clio Trophy France Asphalte – Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine
1. Julien Deslauriers Sablonnière – Amandine Brunel 2h01m32.2s
2. Tom Vauclare – Frédéric Vauclare (J) +15.5s
3. Romain Fostier – Ophélie Abchiche +19.5s
4. Lucas Zielinski – Ewen Leenhardt (J) +25.9s
5. Alex Florenson – Charline Dichamp (J) +34.6s
6. Paul Dachicourt – Adèle Dachicourt (J) +46.7s
7. Melvin Rabilloud – Enzo Mahinc (J) +52.6s
8. Anthony Diel – Yannis Gosselin +1m13.4s
9. Yohan Roumieux – Bastien Fontaine +2m08.8s
10. Kévin Duc – Séverine Chamiot-Maitral (J) +2m19.4s
11. Nicolas Paviet-Roche – Mélodie Bellavarde +2’m9s
12. Jérôme Janny – Helena Pecheur +2m50s
13. Louis Gass – Alison Girard (J) +3m29.2s
14. Pascal Bérard – Caroline Bérard (G) +3m57.3s
15. Jean-Claude Pietri – Jean-François Muselli (J) +4m05.9s
16. Yohan Codaccioni – Hugo Olivier (J) +4m24.7s
17. Amaury Facchinetti – Emma Bonnemort (J) +5m07.2s
18. Charlotte Olea – Cécile Pages (J, F) +5m25.5s
19. Franck Giraud – Christophe Dubien (G) +5m46.8s
20. Michaël Durigon – Mylène Richard (G) +5m56.1s
21. Hugo Aimaretti – Justin Blanchard-Gaillard (J) +6m09.6s
22. Arnaud Boulangé – Lilou Boulangé +6m20.4s
23. Maxence Girard – Maxime Cotte-Colisson (J) +6m20.9s
24. Sylvain Lenne – Nathan Chalendar +6m35.1s
25. Julien Arnaud – Luna Galleano (J) +6m37.6s
26. Laurent Zambon – Carine Chauveau +7m07.5s
27. David Panteix – Lou Cardot (J) +7m15.8s
28. Emma Chalvin – Charline Quartini (J, F) +8m13.7s
29. Laurent Lambert – Yannick Le Moing (G) +9m22.6s
30. Raphaël Monnier – Jean-François Hugon (G) +9m37.8s
31. Benoit Martin – Anne-Laurence Breton +11m17.5s
32. Philippe Janvier – Julie Derory (G) +11m19.4s
33. Mathieu Duclos – Valentine Donat-Magnin +11m27.9s
34. Hugo Ramillon – Baptiste Gauthier (J) +17m20.1s
35. Yoan Corberand – Pauline Compozieux +29m03.2s
36. Valentin Ascenzi – Benoît Manzo (J) +51m44.9s
Ret. Jacques Bourrat – Jean Bourrat (G)
Ret. Enzo Beschet – Emmanuel Guinchard (J)
Ret. Nicolas Vanderweerde – Kevin Dejonge
Ret. Élodie Rey-Gines – Lisa Tornior (F)
Ret. Bastien Bouverat – Corentin Legris (J)
DNS. Benjamin Rico – Samuel Passetemps (J)

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