Quality and quantity for the season-opener

Thirty-eight Clio Rally5 crews will be at the Rallye Le Touquet - Pas-de-Calais to open the race to succeed Thomas Chauffray and Tom Pieri. As one tackles the premier category of the French Rally Championship and the other begins his official programme with Clio Rally4, the Clio Trophy France Asphalte contenders will compete on the same stages, hoping to follow their upward trajectories.

Edition four of the Clio Trophy France Asphalte confirms its tremendous success with a superb line-up bringing together several leading teams on the national rally scene. Among them are ARL Sport, Chazel Technologie Course, Fun Meca Sport, Team FJ, Naudon Rallye Services, PH Sport, Sébastien Loeb Racing, GMC Compétition and many others!

After the victories of Anthony Fotia, Romain Di-Fante and Thomas Chauffray, the race for the title is wide open as the list of contenders is long. Second in the Clio Trophy France Asphalte in 2022, Patrick Magnou will be watched closely, especially as he was involved in the fight for the podium when he raced in Le Touquet for the first time last year. However, the Naudon Rallye Service driver will have his work cut out against a highly qualified field. 

Benjamin Stirling, Louis Myr and Valentin Ascenzi will be among the young hopefuls aiming for the top thanks to their knowledge of these special stages. Benjamin Barnouin and Yannick Francisci, who put in strong performances last year, will want to get their campaign off to the best possible start on an event they are both about to discover. Other talented competitors will be just as determined to highlight their progress right from the beginning of the season as Arthur Pelamourgues, Calvin Lucas, Théo Apchie, Arthur Roché and Enzo Beschet all have Clio Rally5 experience. Meanwhile, Jordan D'Agostino, Dylan Gagnière, Tom Pellerey and Quentin Roger - one of the locals - hope to impress in their first appearance.

Still among the Juniors in contention to win an official programme in 2024, Mattéo Chatillon will aim to replicate the solid pace he showed last year in the Clio Trophy France Terre while returning to tarmac roads he knows well, having competed there in 2020 and 2021. Tom Vauclare will also make the switch, but these stages will be a brand-new experience for him. Meanwhile, Martin Massé will be able to count on the advice of his brother Antoine, who finished third in Clio Rally5 in 2021, to make a successful debut and get the better of other newcomers, including Jean-Claude Pietri, Tobias Laurence, Romain Perrin and Maxime Krasnobaev. 

Several more experienced drivers, however, want to keep the advantage over the new generation. Respectively fourth and tenth a year ago, Yoan Corberand and Nicolas Hebrard would like to take a step forward and improve their respective performances, as do Jérôme Janny, Sylvain Janny, Ugo Girardeau and Christophe Gouville. Julien Deslauriers will also try to confirm his solid form in his Clio Rally5 for his first appearance at Le Touquet, but one of the best performers could well be Romain Fostier. Back in the Clio Trophy France Asphalte, this formidable competitor has nine starts on the event to his credit, with two wins, four podiums and six top-five finishes in his category in six finishes!

Juniors Manon Massarotto and Carla Gaffayoli will also duel in the Women's category, which promises to be fiercely contested for their double debut on these stages and within the trophy. Meanwhile, the battle will rage on among the Gentlemen. Already victorious in the Pas-de-Calais with Clio R3 Maxi in 2021, Mike Souvigné will attempt to repeat the feat while aiming for a solid overall result, but his rivals Franck Giraud, Willy Mathey, José Da Cunha, Jean-Pierre Lejeune and Pascal Donnadieu will definitely give him a run for his money.

The ideal springboard to the higher categories, the Clio Trophy Asphalte France will see Tom Pieri launch his official programme with Clio Rally4 following his triumph in the Junior category last year. The young aspirant, who will represent Castrol, a long-standing partner of Renault's customer racing activities, will take on 28 competitors in the Rally4 class, where Styve Juif, Fabrice Martin and Romain Leclercq will also be competing with Clio Rally4. 

The Rallye Le Touquet - Pas-de-Calais will start on Friday with a four-stage loop, which will be repeated at the end of the day. On Saturday, crews will tackle three other timed sectors, contested twice, including Hucqueliers - Inxent, the longest stage on the route at 22.95 km and the venue for the bonus points-awarding Jean Ragnotti Power Stage. The 14 timed sectors will be totalling 194.02 kilometres of action out of a total of 544.05 km.

Entry list
#57 Patrick Magnou – Anthony Vilanova
#58 Benjamin Barnouin – Enzo Mahinc (J)
#59 Benjamin Stirling – Thibault Raincourt (J)
#60 Louis Myr – Camille Flajolet (J)
#61 Yannick Francisci – François-Marie Ghelardini (J)
#62 Valentin Ascenzi – Marine Lacruz (J)
#63 Nicolas Hebrard – Bastien Dumas 
#64 Yoan Corberand – Amélie Pierron
#65 Julien Deslauriers – Amandine Brunel 
#66 Arthur Pelamourgues – Alizée Pottier (J)
#67 Dylan Gagnière – Maryne Bonne (J)
#68 Romain Fostier – Ophélie Abchiche 
#69 Mattéo Chatillon – Brice Ricou (J)
#70 Calvin Lucas – Amandine Houry (J)
#71 Tom Pellerey – Hervé Faucher (J)
#72 Jordan D’Agostino – Benoît Manzo (J)
#73 Martin Massé – Melvine Pitois (J)
#74 Mike Souvigné – Yoan De Mol (G)
#75 Jean-Claude Pietri – Kylian-Alexis Sarmezan (J)
#76 Tom Vauclare – Frédéric Vauclare (J)
#77 Tobias Laurence – Florian Duthu (J)
#78 Enzo Beschet – Camille Clément (J)
#79 Romain Perrin – Albin Goutry-André (J)
#80 Arthur Roché – Quentin Proust (J)
#81 Jérôme Janny – Clément Gutierrez
#82 Sylvain Janny – Mireille Guy
#83 Franck Giraud – Sylvain Guillaume (G)
#84 Ugo Girardeau – Julien Bichon 
#85 Théo Apchie – Aurélie Vedrine (J)
#86 Quentin Roger – Alysée Poillon (J)
#87 Willy Mathey – Mathieu Favreau (G)
#88 José Da Cunha – Magalie Da Cunha (G)
#89 Jean-Pierre Lejeune – Geneviève Arnavielhe (G)
#90 Maxime Krasnobaev – François Gilbert (J)
#91 Christophe Gouville – François Heer 
#92 Carla Gaffayoli – Marc Bernardi (J, F)
#93 Manon Massarotto – Jean-François de Montredon (J, F)
#94 Pascal Donnadieu – Laurent Delmas (G)