Less than three weeks after Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine, Clio Trophy France Asphalte competitors converged on Vendôme for the season’s penultimate round. Before the event began, Jérôme Janny, Julien Deslauriers-Sablonnière, Louis Gass and Franck Giraud each won a tyre in a prize draw organised by Ceerta, the official Michelin Motorsport distributor in the French Rally Championship.

Buoyed by two consecutive victories in the Vosges and Alps, Paul Dachicourt maintained the same pace on roads with a very different profile. The Fun Meca Sport driver set the pace in Cellé before sharing the honours with Fabien Combe in Bessé-sur-Braye. While the retirements of Romain Fostier and Romain Brun on SS1 affected the title fight, the leader continued to dictate the pace while Fabien Combe got caught out. Paul Dachicourt returned to the service park with a 16.1s lead over Julien Deslauriers-Sablonnière and 16.9s over Maxence Potard.

The second loop confirmed Paul Dachicourt’s dominance with two further fastest times in Cellé and Bonneveau–Sougé. After suffering a puncture in the early afternoon, Julien Deslauriers-Sablonnière ended his run on SS5. Meanwhile, Tom Le Jossec took advantage of the Vendôme super special stage to claim his first stage win. Diligent in this last challenge, Paul Dachicourt finished the first leg with a 29.8s lead over Maxence Potard. Despite a damaged windscreen in the morning, Léo Véricel was third, followed by a tight group comprising Jérôme Janny, Oliver Sørensen, Néo Rivallant and Louis Gass.

On Sunday, Paul Dachicourt kept up his momentum on the Mazangé–Fortan stage to continue racking up Jean Ragnotti Performer points, but the gaps suddenly began to narrow. In Savigny-sur-Braye, Léo Véricel was quickest, whilst Paul Dachicourt had to deal with the aftermath of a detour into a ditch. Maxence Potard used this setback to make a comeback, clocking the fastest time in Sargé-sur-Braye. Behind him, Léo Véricel’s crash on SS10 moved Jérôme Janny up to third, with Louis Gass close behind.

The Dachicourts didn’t falter in the final kilometres and secured their third straight victory by 17.8s over Maxence Potard and Maxime Biegalke, keeping their title hopes alive. Jérôme Janny and Hélèna Pêcheur avoided the final pitfalls to secure their first podium finish. With a clean sweep in the final loop, Julien Deslauriers-Sablonnière and co-driver Romain Depeux completed their impressive comeback, moving up to fourth.

The Danish duo of Oliver Sørensen and Frederik Glad scored their first top-five finish, finishing just 0.7s ahead of Néo Rivallant and Melvin Fraigne, who also recorded their best result in the Clio Rally5 competition. After losing time on SS11, Louis Gass and Alison Girard had to settle for seventh place, with the pairs Tom Le Jossec – Christophe Leroy and Maxence Girard – Ricardo Gil Mateus following. In tenth place, Jacques and Jean Bourrat claimed their maiden victory in the Gentlemen class.

With this latest success, Paul Dachicourt is now 142 points clear of Maxence Potard heading into the season finale, where 157.5 points will be up for grabs before each competitor drops their worst result. The two drivers will also vie for the Junior title, the official programme on offer, and the top spot in the Jean Ragnotti Performer classification. Third overall, Romain Fostier continues to top the Gentlemen category, whilst Maxence Potard’s performances have enabled Groupe Bertrand to reclaim the lead in the Renault Network Challenge.

As the most represented brand at the event, Renault impressed with a sweep of the top four in the Rally3 class led by Thomas Bordagaray and Antoine Loiseau, as well as a one-two in the French Women’s Rally Championship with the crews of Clémentine Benoit and Éric De Bolle, and Chanel Launay and Anaïs Roger. 2025 Clio Trophy France Asphalte top Juniors Lucas Zielinski and Ewen Leenhardt also turned heads on their Alpine A110 Rallye GT+ debut, finishing seventh overall and securing podium finishes in the R-GT class and Michelin Premium Trophy.

The seventh edition of the Clio Rally5 era of the Clio Trophy France Asphalte concludes next month at the Critérium des Cévennes (22–24 October).

Paul Dachicourt : “Not winning on home soil at Le Touquet was a little frustrating. Since then, we’ve worked hard with Adèle and the Fun Meca Sport team, and this third consecutive win is the result of all our efforts. It strengthens our position. We’re only a few points from the title. Maxence will have to do a legendary rally to catch us, and we fully intend to deliver a great performance ourselves. It’s a big step towards the title, but the job isn’t done yet. The main challenge of the weekend turned out to be ourselves. We had a good lead after a strong Saturday, but we made a mistake in the first loop on Sunday and got caught out rather foolishly. We’ll approach the final round in the same way as all the other ones : by working hard, leaving nothing to chance, and aiming for victory.”

Clio Trophy France Asphalte – Rallye Cœur de France - Région Centre-Val de Loire
1. Paul Dachicourt – Adèle Dachicourt (J) 1h50m29.9s
2. Maxence Potard – Maxime Biegalke (J) +17.8s
3. Jérôme Janny – Hélèna Pêcheur +2’21’’4
4. Julien Deslauriers-Sablonnière – Romain Depeux +2m34.9s
5. Oliver Sørensen – Frederik Glad (J) +2m59.2s
6. Néo Rivallant – Melvin Fraigne (J) +2m59.9s
7. Louis Gass – Alison Girard (J) +5m08.1s
8. Tom Le Jossec – Christophe Leroy (J) +6m05.9s
9. Maxence Girard – Ricardo Gil Mateus (J) +6m44.1s
10. Jacques Bourrat – Jean Bourrat (G) +7m10.6s
11. Thomas Van Outryve – Johanna Della-Pina (J) +7m51.8s
12. Baptiste Langlois – Yael Lamont (J) +8m43.6s
13. Franck Giraud – Christophe Dubien (G) +9m20.3s
14. Pascal Bérard – Caroline Bérard (G) +9m31.4s
15. Laurent Lambert – Céline Farnault (G) +11m08.6s
16. Romain Fostier – Ophélie Abchiche (G) +1h10m46.5s
Ret. Léo Véricel – Jade Gaston (J)
Ret. Fabien Combe – Fabien Chèze
Ret. Romain Brun – Aurélia Chevalier (J)