The Chauffrays on top in Le Touquet

Forty crews entered the new Clio Trophy France Asphalte campaign on the roads of Pas-de-Calais, and despite a longer route, the first drivers to excel were the same as last year. 

Ten months after setting an identical time to start the previous season, Tom Pieri and Thomas Chauffray found themselves in the lead, this time separated by 1.7s. In a similar scenario, Thomas Chauffray kept his momentum going with a pair of fastest times to return to the service park with a 7.1s lead over Tom Pieri. Behind, Patrick Magnou, Styve Juif and Romain Fostier were lying in wait while Karl Pinheiro and Benjamin Stirling were among the win contenders to see their day cut short in the first loop.

Styve Juif stepped up the pace in the early evening by winning the repeat runs of the three stages. The runner-up to Romain Di-Fante, who set the fastest time by a tenth of a second on SS4, two tenths on SS5 and three tenths on SS6, moved up from fourth to second place. He trimmed Thomas Chauffray's lead to 4.4s and initiated a great duel for the honours in the Junior category by getting the better of Tom Pieri.

The second leg began with the longest timed sector, the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage rewarding the ten fastest drivers. Thomas Chauffray scored the maximum ten bonus points on offer, beating Patrick Magnou and Styve Juif, who was now 6.9s behind. The leader was not about to rest on his laurels and kept pushing, with three scratch times on the following four stages while Tom Pieri continued his fierce battle with Styve Juif, reclaiming second place on SS9 before clocking the best run on SS10.  

In the final loop, Thomas Chauffray managed his lead to go on for the win by 6.9 seconds over Tom Pieri. With two more fastest times on SS12 and SS15, Tom Pieri sealed second place in the general classification and top honours in the Junior category with a 5.3 seconds margin over Styve Juif. After Patrick Magnou was penalised for technical non-conformity and Romain Fostier retired due to a damaged gearbox after going off the road on SS12, Yoan Corberand finished fourth, followed by Juniors Jeremy Sarhy and Louis Myr. Yann Clairay finished seventh in his return to the Renault trophies, ahead of Sébastien Rambaud, who eventually won his duel with Guillaume Bonnet. Nicolas Hebrard completed the top ten in this opening round of the season.

In the Women category, Margot Dupuy immediately shot to the top of the order before going off the road on SS9. Marina Breuil made the most of the situation to take the lead and go on for the win ahead of Élodie Gines and Capucine Ouvry. In the Gentlemen category, Gabriel Conti set the pace before crashing on SS3. Eric Royère moved into the lead and progressively extended the gap to take a comfortable win ahead of José Da Cunha.

With the win and best time on the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage, Thomas Chauffray takes a ten-point lead in the general classification ahead of Tom Pieri, who is three points ahead of Styve Juif among the Juniors. His successful weekend also sees Europe Location climb to the top of the teams' classification while Grands Moulins Auto becomes the first leader of this year's Renault Network Challenge.

The second round of the calendar will see the Clio Trophy France Asphalte crews battle on the roads of the Rallye Antibes Côte d'Azur (19-22 May), where the Clio Rally5s will once again feature in the FFSA French Rally Championship.

2022 Rallye Le Touquet – Pas-de-Calais
Clio Trophy France Asphalte

1. Thomas Chauffray — Pauline Chauffray 1h49:37.9s
2. Tom Pieri – Amandine Borderie (J) +6.9s
3. Styve Juif — Maxime Biegalke (J) +12.2s
4. Yoan Corberand – Emeline Faivre +2:31.9s
5. Jérémy Sarhy — Loïck André (J) +2:45.8s
6. Louis Myr – Camille Flajolet (J) +3:02.3s
7. Yann Clairay – Quentin Trochu +3:25.5s
8. Sébastien Rambaud – Nicolas Febvre (J) +5:00.7s
9. Guillaume Bonnet – Cédric Santini (J) +5:03.1s
10. Nicolas Hebrard – Bastien Dumas +6:22.1s
11. Calvin Lucas – Amandine Houry (J) +6:47.9s
12. Pierre Paul Baltolu – Romain Buresi (J) +7:47.4s
13. Charley Trevilly – Pierre Joly +8:00.6s
14. Lander Dhaene – Joachim Wagemans (J) +8:23.9s
15. Arthur Pelamourgues – Marine Pelamourgues  (J) +10:04.6s
16. Ugo Girardeau – Julien Bichon +10:13.0s
17. Arthur Roché – Maxime Vilmot (J) +10:22.7s
18. Éric Royère – Gilbert Dini (G) +10:45.2s
19. José Javier Pérez – Alberto Espino  (J) +11:18.1s
20. Benjamin Hanquiez – Jean-Charles Huvelle +13:12.8s
21. Marina Breuil – Mélanie Tendille  (J, F) +14:23.6s
22. José Da Cunha – Damien Lecable (G) +15:11.7s
23. Sylvain Janny – Guy Mireille +16:17.3s
24. Franck Giraud – Sylvain Guillaume +16:46.2s
25. Élodie Gines – Lisa Tornior (F) +17:50.4s
26. Capucine Ouvry – Éléonore Ouvry (J, F) +27:21.6s
27. Jérôme Janny – Clément Gutierrez +34:21.3s
28. Enzo Lucotte – Candice Desrayaud (J) +42:39.7s
29. Benjamin Stirling — Florence Wehrey (J) +50:36.8s
30. Karl Pinheiro – Sarah Filipe (J) +1h00:47.2s
31. Patrick Magnou – Anthony Vilanova +1h00:53.6s
Ab. Jean-Pierre Lejeune – Geneviève Arnavielhe (G)
Ab. Romain Fostier — Ophelie Abchiche
Ab. Laura Colombel – Clara Joly (F)
Ab. Margot Dupuy – Clio Chambelland (F)
Ab. Christophe Fontaine – Jérémy Pacaud (G)
Ab. Théo Apchie – Aurélie Vedrine (J)
Ab. Julien Anthérieu – Valérie Anthérieu (J)
Ab. Gabriel Conti – Vanessa Robert (J)
Ab. Delphine Libessart – Aurélie Delrue (G, F)

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