Round three of the Clio Ice Trophy saw Volkan Isik (Puzzle Motorsport) claim his second victory on the Pas de la Casa Circuit. The Turkish driver got a perfect score in this exceptionally compact meeting, but the title race remains wide open as five drivers will battle for the crown next Saturday in Andorra. Spain’s Antonio Otero (Puzzle Motorsport) and France’s Yannick Francisci (Casanova Sport Auto) will head into the season finale level on points at the top of the general classification!
Postponed one week due to weather conditions, the third fixture on the calendar welcomed 16 competitors to the world's highest permanent circuit. The title contenders were joined by seven newcomers and Volkan Isik, back after his success at the start of the season.
The format was unusually the same as the one used in the first two Clio Ice Trophy seasons to preserve the track prepared by the Andbank GSeries organisers. The protagonists had seven practice laps to get their bearings on the 570-metre layout. Volkan Isik set the pace in group one before Baptiste Panissié (WRM by Chanoine Motorsport / SRD Racing), Çaglayan Çelik (Puzzle Motorsport) and François Marie Gaffayoli (Casanova Sport Auto) finished at the head of the other groups, but unable to break into the top three of Volkan Isik, Antonio Otero and Christophe Casanova (Casanova Sport Auto).
Volkan Isik did it again in qualifying with a time of 46.453s, which secured him pole position in the A Final despite the attempts of his rivals, led by Christophe Casanova. The Turkish driver also scored the maximum of 15 intermediate points at stake by being the fastest over the five laps during the session, again ahead of Corsica's Christophe Casanova and Yannick Francisci.
In the A Final, Volkan Isik converted his pole advantage at the flying start to control the field before pulling away to take a more than four-second margin of victory over Yannick Francisci, who held off the overall leader Antonio Otero and Baptiste Panissié. Alain Cusimano (WRM by Chanoine Motorsport / SRD Racing) finished fifth ahead of Pierre Vivier (Casanova Sport Auto), whilst Jordi Trilla (Brunet Competition) took advantage of the misfortunes of Sébastien Guigues (Driveland) to claim seventh place.
In the B Final, poleman Christophe Casanova immediately came under attack from Charlie Fréard (WRM by Chanoine Motorsport / SRD Racing). The rallycross driver found an opening to take the lead on lap four as his rival lost positions. Charlie Fréard then kept Çaglayan Çelik at bay to seal his second win of the season ahead of the Turk, Alex Queralto (Brunet Competition), Gustavo Castro (Puzzle Motorsport), François Marie Gaffayoli and Christophe Casanova. Women’s category winner, Helena Ferrer (Driveland) finished seventh while Simon Dezoteux (WRM by Chanoine Motorsport / SRD Racing) retired after running off track.
With a perfect score and his second win in as many rounds contested, Volkan Isik climbed back to fourth place in the general classification, now led by Antonio Otero and Yannick Francisci. However, they are only four points clear of Charlie Fréard. Despite his mishap in the B Final, Christophe Casanova remains mathematically in the hunt for the title, promising a thrilling conclusion to Saturday's Clio Ice Trophy final among the five contenders.
Clio Ice Trophy standings after Round 3
1. Antonio Otero 94 points
2. Yannick Francisci 94 points
3. Charlie Freard 90 points
4. Volkan Isik 76 points
5. Christophe Casanova 60 points
6. Alex Queralto 45 points
7. Alain Cusimano 39 points
8. Sito Español 32 points
9. Daniel Del Villar 30 points
10. Guillermo Millan 28 points
11. Çaglayan Çelik 26 points
12. Quentin Ribaud 25 points
13. Pierre Vivier 22 points
14. Grégory Fosse 21 points
15. Ercan Kazaz 20 points
16. Jordi Queralto 19 points
17. Baptiste Panissié 18 points
18. Alex Villacreces 15 points
19. Gustavo Castro 14 points
20. François Marie Gaffayoli 14 points
21. Zosimo Hernandez 13 points
22. Markel De Zabaleta 8 points
23. Déborrah Marie 5 points
24. Jordi Trilla 5 points
25. Helena Ferrer 5 points
26. Gautier Sarhy 4 points
27. Paul Trojani 3 points
28. Sébastien Guigues 3 points
29. Joaquin Rodrigo 0 point
30. Simon Dezoteux 0 point
