Pieri reignites the suspense in Aleria

A new stop on the calendar, the Rallye Terre d'Aleria was a decisive round for several competitors determined to keep their title hopes alive in the Clio Trophy France Terre. 

On Thursday, Benjamin Boulenc, Anthony Rovina, Loïc Pautou and Nicolas Ressegaire won a Michelin LTX Force T XL92 tyre - the compulsory tyre for the Trophy - in a draw organised by Ceerta, the official Michelin Motorsport distributor for the French Rally Championship. The prize comes in addition to the one-tyre start bonus for all the entered drivers, who then refined their notebooks during the extremely dusty opening recces on Friday morning.

After the cancellation of the first stage, the hostilities truly got underway on SS2. Florian Condamines was quickest on Voie Ferrée - Pianiccia, ahead of Matteo Chatillon and Jean-Sébastien Vigion, while the Corsican tracks claimed their first victims, including Julien Pontal and Laurent Reuche. Fourth fastest, Benjamin Boulenc upped the tempo on the next timed sector between Château de Pianiccia and Vonvon to take the lead and return to the service park 9.1 seconds ahead of Jean-Sébastien Vigion. 

Third at midday, Matteo Chatillon took advantage of an equally chaotic second loop to move to the top of the order. Despite the best time of Tom Pieri on SS5, the ARL Sport driver charged on the second run through Château de Pianiccia - Vonvon to open a 10.4s lead over Benjamin Boulenc, with Tom Pieri just 9.4s further back. Points leader before the start, Jean-Sébastien Vigion was fourth, more than a minute behind the leader, but ahead of a tightly-bunched group that included Julien Deslauriers, Mika Rasoamaromaka, Baptiste Panissié and Florian Condamines.

On Saturday morning, Tom Pieri struck hard from the outset in the longest stage of the event, Les Lunaries (19.01 km). The man from Marseilles set the fastest time and took the lead from Benjamin Boulenc, who immediately answered. Although the gap between the two was only a second and a half before the final two stages, Tom Pieri made a big step forward with a new best time in Les Lunaries, whilst Benjamin Boulenc slipped behind Matteo Chatillon. 

In the final kilometres, Tom Pieri secured his first victory in the Clio Trophy France Terre while also winning the Junior category. Matteo Chatillon and Benjamin Boulenc joined him on the podium, separated by 1.4 seconds at the finish. Jean-Sébastien Vigion was a consistent performer in an event marked by numerous twists and turns and held off Mika Rasoamaromaka to finish fourth. Sixth-placed Jean-Paul Monnin managed to get ahead of Baptiste Panissié, John Laroche and Corsican Anthony Rovina in a top ten completed by Florian Condamines. Meanwhile, Nicolas Ressegaire dominated proceedings in the Gentleman category, as did Inès Tamisier in the Women's category.

Thanks to his win, Tom Pieri now trails Clio Trophy France Terre leader Jean-Sébastien Vigion by four points. The winner also extended his  lead in the Junior category to 24 points over Matteo Chatillon, who still leads the Jean Ragnoti Power Stage classification. Meanwhile, 3P Racing moves into the lead of the Teams classification, as does Bandelier Automobiles in the Renault Network Challenge. 

Clio Rally3 starred on the Corsican stages, with victory in Rally3 and fourth place overall for Quentin Ribaud, who once again demonstrated the potential of the new model by finishing among the top Rally2 contenders in the French Gravel Rally Championship. Despite a complicated event, Florian Bouchonneau and Clio Rally4 scored valuable points, finishing third in RC4 with the official Castrol Clio Rally4. 

Clio Trophy France Terre now heads into its summer break, resuming with the Rallye Terre de Lozère (25-27 August), the penultimate event on the calendar.

Clio Trophy France Terre - Rallye Terre d’Aleria
1. Tom Pieri – Alexis Maillefert (J) 1h52:52.6s
2. Mattéo Chatillon – Maxence Cornuau (J) +14.7s
3. Benjamin Boulenc – Chloé Barozzi-Gauze +16.1s
4. Jean-Sébastien Vigion – Amandine Borderie +1:30.9s
5. Mika Rasoamaromaka – Bastien Pouget (J) +1:57.1s
6. Jean Paul Monnin – Franck Gilliot +2:53.6s
7. Baptiste Panissie – Gaël Lavernhe (J) +3:09.8s
8. John Laroche – Manon Deliot +3:17.1s
9. Anthony Rovina – Kylian Sarmezan (J) +3:20.8s
10. Florian Condamines – Damien Jole +3:23.4s
11. Jean Lavigne – Arnaud Cubizolles (J) +4:30.8s
12. Jean-Claude Pietri – Jean-François Muselli (J) +4:31.8s
13. Aurélien Devanthery – Gaël Delasoie +4:36.2s
14. Ludovic Casciani – Clément Gorda +5:13.4s
15. Samuel Lay – Geoffrey Brion (J) +5:36.8s
16. Nicolas Ressegaire – Amandine Houry (G) +5:43.6s
17. Ludovic De Luca – José Boyer +5:57.1s
18. Christophe Truchet – Barbara Truchet +6:52.7s
19. Vincent Favre-Miville – Cédric Causse +7:00.1s
20. Lilian Vialle – Manuel Ghirardello (G) +8:24.4s
21. Sébastien Studer – Maude Studer +9:51.4s
22. Sylvain Tamisier – Mathieu Tamisier +12:07.7s
23. Christophe Rocard – Florian Chardon (G) +13:56.2s
24. Inès Tamisier – Laurent Tamisier (J,F) +18:29.1s
25. Charles Thonnelier – Julien Saint-Dizier +23:17.7s
26. Ludovic Pomponi – Nicolas Ferracci +32:03.2s
27. Loïc Pautou – Sonny Postel +34:43.9s
Ret. Julien Deslauriers – Amandine Brunel
Ret. Loïc de la Taste – Benjamin Mondière (J)
Ret. Faniry Rasoamaromaka – Baptiste Langlois (J)
Ab. Laurent Reuche – Patrick Spart (G)
Ret. Patrick Magnou – Anthony Vilanova
Ret. Julien Pontal – Loan Biagetti (J)
Ret. Igor Giusti – Franck Pasqualini
DNS. Dimitri Felices – Séverine Chariot
DNS. Yannick Francisci – Lisa-Maria Vinciguerra (J)

Clio Trophy France Terre - Jean Ragnotti Power Stage standings - Teams standings - Renault Network Challenge