The crew programs Alpine Racing unveiled

With just a few weeks to go before the real start of the rally season, Alpine Racing reveals its hand. After their Junior successes in the Clio Trophy France Asphalt and the overall standings of the 2025 Clio Trophy France Gravel, Lucas Zielinski and Mika Rasoamaromaka were waiting to learn more about their plans for 2026. Everything is now known, including, unsurprisingly, their car for this season: the Renault Clio Rally3. For the first one mentioned, the program will focus on the French Rally Championship as well as the European Rally Championship. For this, we will find Lucas Zielinski, still co-driven by Ewen Leenhardt, at Rally Le Touquet – Pas de Calais and then, a month later, for the opening of theERC in Spain at the Sierra Morena Rally. Two other rallies are on the program; the choice of focusing more on France or on Europe will be made after these two events.

Asphalt for Zielinski, dirt for Rasoamaromaka

Malagasy driver Mika Rasoamaromaka will remain on gravel. He will be driving the same car as Zielinski in the three rounds that make up the 2026 Clio Trophy France Gravel calendar: the Rallye Castine Terre d'Occitanie, the Rallye Terre des Causses, and, in October, the Rallye Terre des Cardabelles. Since the factory cars are awarded each year to the team that won the Teams classification the previous season, Rasoamaromaka, again co-driven by Melissa Declerck, will continue to compete under the Fun Meca Sport banner. As for Lucas Zielinski, he will be representing the David Auto Compétition team, last year's winner, notably through Yoan Corberand, the 2025 Clio Trophy France Asphalt champion.

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The Clio Trophy France, a true school for champions

The Clio Trophy France has, in recent years, been a showcase for many talented drivers. The first that immediately springs to mind is Arthur Pelamourgues. Winner on tarmac in 2024, the Aveyron native competed in WRC3 last year and, building on that experience, is aiming to enter more Rally2 events this season after his third-place finish in WRC2 at Monte Carlo. Let's not forget Benjamin Stirling either; the Alsatian will compete in Rally2 this year in the French Rally Championship after a second consecutive victory in the one-make series, this time with Stellantis Motorsport. Finally, we should also mention Tom Pellerey, winner of the 2024 Clio Trophy France Gravel, who, like Pelamourgues, had a WRC3 entry last year.