Victory for Condamines, title for Bouchonneau!

The Clio Trophy France Terre field met for the season-finale in Millau, where the final duel for the title was between Florian Bouchonneau and Julien Pontal while first places in the Gentlemen, Teams and Women categories were still at stake! 

On home soil, Florian Condamines pushed hard from the start by winning the first two stages to take an 11.7s lead, but Benjamin Boulenc replied on the longest test of the morning to close the gap to 0.6s at the end of the loop. Behind him, Mattéo Chatillon was third ahead of Patrick Magnou and Julien Pontal, who had to win to have a chance to take the title from Florian Bouchonneau. 

In the afternoon, Florian Condamines took another fastest time in Sainte-Eulalie. Although his closest rival fought back on L'Hospitalet, the second run through Camp du Larzac changed the face of the rally as Benjamin Boulenc and Mattéo Chatillon were both forced to retire. With four best times in six stages, Florian Condamines finished the first leg with a 37.2s lead from Laurent Reuche, who was 1.2s to the good from Julien Pontal. After a quiet start, then two punctures, Florian Bouchonneau was only in tenth place. 

On Sunday, Julien Pontal pushed on SS7, but his last hopes were dashed when Florian Bouchonneau went 3.7s quicker on the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage, depriving him of precious bonus points. Although the winner of the trophy was then known, the last two stages remained essential for the Teams classification. Julien Deslauriers set the pace on Vézins, while Florian Bouchonneau and Patrick Magnou posted equal best time on the Séverac-d'Aveyron stage.

Florian Condamines eventually won with a 28.3s lead from Julien Pontal. The duel for third place between two Clio Trophy France Terre newcomers turned to the advantage of Patrick Magnou for 9.4s against Julien Deslauriers. Gentleman driver Laurent Reuche finished fifth ahead of Florian Bouchonneau, who passed Mattéo Codaccioni in the final kilometres of the rally. Frédéric Vauclare, Bastien Bergounhe and Ludovic Casciani completed the top ten while Deborah Marie resisted the comeback of Ines Tamisier on Sunday to win the Women's category by 21.8s. 

Florian Bouchonneau finished in the top six of every round, with three podiums to his credit to win the title. As the top junior, he will be offered an official programme with Renault in 2023, managed by Fun Meca Sport, winner for the second consecutive year of the Teams classification. His performances also allowed him to win the Jean Ragnotti Power Stage trophy while helping SARL Daniel Rey to snatch the title in the Challenge Réseau Renault.

On the same roads, Quentin Ribaud scored the first victory in his campaign with Clio Rally4 in the French Gravel Two-Wheel-Drive Rally Championship. Built on his four Saturday stage wins before controlling the proceedings, this result allowed him to finish just outside the top ten between two Rally2s and narrow the gap to the leader before the season-finale at the Rallye Terre de Vaucluse (11-13 November).

After a second successful season with more than 50 crews, more than three times as many as last year, the Clio Trophy France Terre will celebrate its laureates and those of the Clio Trophy France Asphalte at a ceremony after the Critérium des Cévennes. The 2023 calendar will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Florian Condamines: "My goal was to win. It's one thing to state your ambitions, but you still have to do it! I felt capable of doing it, especially as I finished fifth overall last year here. It is a great collective success. The team was in sync, and there were no problems with the car, my co-driver and the engineers. We ran a near-perfect rally, except a small mistake costing us ten seconds. My only regret is that I couldn't go for the fastest time on the Power Stage. The assessment of the season is excellent, with two wins, but we lacked experience in the Causses and in Langres, where it took us six minutes to change a wheel because we were too lazy to practice. These details would have allowed us to do better, but we are still quite satisfied. I'm not closing any doors for the future, whether it's a return to the Clio Trophy France Terre, a move to Clio Trophy France Asphalte, or even trying Clio Rally3!"

Florian Bouchonneau: "This title is a dream come true. I've dreamed about Renault since I was a kid, and I've driven a Renault in the past. To win the Clio Trophy France Terre with nearly thirty competitors at each round, to finish as the top Junior, and become an official driver for the brand is indescribable, unexpected and exceptional. We were aiming for the top ten at the beginning of the year, so it's also a bit of a surprise. It was an extremely challenging rally as we had to watch Julien Pontal's performance. I was a bit on the reserve on Saturday, and our two punctures put us behind. I gave everything I had on the Power Stage and it worked because I took maximum points! My best memory of this season is probably the Rallye Terre des Causses. Everything went smoothly, even though we had picked up the car from the factory less than a week before the start. With my team of engineers, we were able to discover it at this not-too-rough event, and it was just a pleasure. I'm now looking forward to my official programme!"

2022 Rallye Terre des Cardabelles
Clio Trophy France Terre
1. Florian Condamines – Damien Jole 1h42:20.7s
2. Julien Pontal – Loan Biagetti (J) +28.3s
3. Patrick Magnou – Anthony Vilanova +46.2s
4. Julien Deslauriers – Amandine Brunel +55.6s
5. Laurent Reuche – Patrick Spart (G) +1:32.6s
6. Florian Bouchonneau – Jeanne Rey (J) +1:54.2s
7. Mattéo Codaccioni – Pauline Dalmasso (J) +1:56.2s
8. Frédéric Vauclare – Tom Vauclare (G) +2:03.9s
9. Bastien Bergounhe – Mathieu Descharne (J) +2:18.9s
10. Ludovic Casciani – Céline Cavallaro+5:21.2s
11. Jean Lavigne – Arnaud Cubizolles (J) +5:37.3s
12. Alexandre Gransagne – Loïc Maurel +5:44.4s
13. Baptiste Panissié – Gaël Lavernhe (J) +6:05.9s
14. Sébastien Studer – Maude Stude +7:57.1s
15. Lilian Vialle – Manuel Ghirardello (G) +8:27.5s
16. Gaël Alquier – Marion Alquier +8:47.0s
17. Ludovic De Luca – José Boyer +9 :46.0s
18. Benjamin Boulenc – Chloé Barozzi-Gauze +10:27.3s
19. Éric Royère – Vincent Reault (G) +10:39.6s
20. Thomas Mouysset – Lucas Gineste (J) +12:31.7s
21. Jean Paul Monnin – Franck Gilliot+12:50.9s
22. Christophe Rocard – Florian Chardon (G) +13:35.5s
23. Maxime Salin – Sandrine Catoire +18:50.1s
24. Deborah Marie – Cécile Marie (W) +24:04.5s
25. Inès Tamisier – Laurent Tamisier (J, W) +24:26.3s
26. David Gerard – Manon Deliot +52:42.1s
Ret. Mika Rasoamaromaka – Bastien Pouget (J)
Ret. Mattéo Chatillon – Maxence Cornuau (J)
Ret. Faniry Rasoamaromaka – Judi Rakatomalala (J)
Ret. Sylvain Tamisier – Mathieu Tamisier 

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