The Clio Trophy France Terre battle continues in Castine

The Clio Trophy France Terre resumes this week with a 34-car strong field at the Rallye Castine Terre d'Occitanie, an increase from last year, further highlighting the growing popularity of the competition. 

After mastering the weather conditions in the Causses, Jean-Sébastien Vigion heads to Bretenoux intent on increasing his lead on a rally that he took top honours in RC5 with Clio Rally5 in 2020. However, the leader knows that those chasing him will seek revenge, starting with Tom Pieri and Matteo Chatillon. The former caused a sensation with his win in the Junior category in round one, whilst the latter won more stages than anyone else in Capdenac and will be keen to convert his speed into a first victory.

Already victorious in the trophy, Jean Paul Monnin too wants to regain the upper hand in the title race, as does Florian Condamines, triumphant at this rally last year. The two men are not the only ones with such aspirations as Julien Pontal, who was in contention for the win before his crash in the Causses. Patrick Magnou and Mika Rasoamaromaka are also determined to reverse the first trends seen last month.
Among the top five, at less than a minute from the winner, Gentleman driver Laurent Reuche, Junior Faniry Rasoamaromaka and Julien Deslauriers will also pose stiff competition while Baptiste Panissie, Benjamin Boulenc, Alexandre Gransagne and Anthony Rovina hope to get closer to the leaders after a solid start. At the same time, Vincent Favre-Miville, Thomas Mouysset, Charles Thonnelier, Ludovic Casciani and Christophe Truchet will aim to score important points to move up the general classification. 

In the Gentlemen category, Laurent Reuche is the pre-event favourite after finishing fourth in this event in 2022. Lilian Vialle and Christophe Rocard will use their experience of the roads to thwart the predictions while Emmanuel Guinchard, Jean-Laurent Chivaydel and Nicolas Ressegaire will be giving their best on their first start in Bretenoux. 

Ill-rewarded in the Causses, John Laroche will try to bounce back while Maxime Lafon, Jean Lavigne, Ludovic De Luca and Loïc Pautou hope to score their first points of the campaign. Four newcomers share this goal. Fourteenth last year, Justin Tamisier wants to underline his progress while Clément Marchesini will get his first taste of the trophy. Clio Trophy France Asphalte frontrunners Tom Pellerey and Nicolas Hebrard will also be there, seeking to match their performances on gravel. 

Meanwhile, three privateer Clio Rally3s are entered with Quentin Ribaud, Manu Gascou and Bastien Bergounhe in the inaugural weekend of competition for the new car. Lastly, three Clio Rally4s will compete, with Clio Trophy France Terre title holder Florian Bouchonneau, Simon Heinemann and Ola Nore Jr. 

The 23rd Rallye Castine Terre d'Occitanie starts on Saturday morning with the traditional recce runs of the day's three stages. These will include the weekend's longest-timed sector, the 19-kilometre Cazillac stage, which will be contested twice. On Sunday, the competitors will get two cracks at the Miers and Reilhac stages. The first pass through Miers will award bonus points for the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage. The ten timed sectors will total 138.20 kilometres of action.

Entry list
#56 Jean-Sébastien Vigion – Yannick Roche
#57 Tom Pieri – Alexis Maillefert (J)
#58 Mattéo Chatillon – Maxence Cornuau (J)
#59 Faniry Rasoamaromaka – Baptiste Langlois (J)
#60 Laurent Reuche – Patrick Spart (G)
#61 Julien Deslauriers – Amandine Brunel
#62 Florian Condamines – Damien Jole
#63 Jean Paul Monnin – Franck Gilliot
#64 Baptiste Panissie – Gaël Lavernhe (J)
#65 Tom Pellerey – Hervé Faucher (J)
#66 Patrick Magnou – Anthony Vilanova
#67 Julien Pontal – Loan Biagetti (J)
#68 Mika Rasoamaromaka – Bastien Pouget (J)
#69 Benjamin Boulenc – Chloé Barozzi-Gauze 
#70 Maxime Lafon – Thomas Delmas (J)
#71 Alexandre Gransagne – Loïc Maurel
#72 John Laroche – Manon Deliot 
#73 Jean Lavigne – Arnaud Cubizolles (J)
#74 Ludovic Casciani – Céline Cavallaro
#75 Anthony Rovina – Kylian Sarmezan (J)
#76 Nicolas Hebrard – Bastien Dumas
#77 Lilian Vialle – Manuel Ghirardello (G)
#78 Loïc Pautou – Sonny Postel
#79 Ludovic de Luca – José Boyer 
#80 Emmanuel Guinchard – Kilian Guinchard (G)
#81 Vincent Favre-Miville – Cédric Causse
#82 Thomas Mouysset – Lucas Gineste (J)
#83 Jean-Laurent Chivaydel – Gabin Chivaydel (G)
#84 Justin Tamisier – Laurent Tamisier (J)
#85 Nicolas Ressegaire – Philippe Marchetto (G)
#86 Christophe Rocard – Florian Chardon (G)
#87 Clément Marchesini – Hélie Lispal (J)
#88 Christophe Truchet – Barbara Truchet
#89 Charles Thonnelier – Julien Saint-Dizier