French Rally: Campana to enter opening round in Clio R3

Up-and-coming French rally driver Pierre Campana will start his 2009 season with a guest appearance at the Rallye Epernay Vins de Champagne this weekend, the opening round of the Coupe de France.

In a one-off outing, Campana will drive the same Renault Clio R3 that he took to a podium finish in the junior WRC event in France last year.

The 13th Rallye Epernay Vins de Champagne is also the opening round of the Trophée National Clio R3, a one-make series run by Renault Sport to showcase the abilities of the 2.0 litre Clio R3. Pierre's drive on the event has been made possible thanks to French oil company Yacco, which has also backed the Corsican in the past, being a well-known supporter of emerging French talent.

The car will be run by Chazel Technologies and be co-driven by regular pace note reader Sabrina De Castelli.

"I'm very grateful to Yacco for this fantastic opportunity to drive the Clio R3 on what should be a thrilling event, marking the first round of Renault Sport's R3 Trophy,” said Campana.

"I know the capabilities of the car and the team well, so we are in a strong position on that side of things. On the other hand, this is a new event for me and I am sure that the local opposition will be very strong. So we will start off with the idea of doing our very best, and see what happens."

The all-asphalt event takes place on Saturday and Sunday through the famous Champagne region of France. Opening up the action in the zero car will be French rally legend Jean Ragnotti. The rally takes in 10 special stages totalling 130 competitive kilometres.

Catch French Rally Championship highlights on Motors TV throughout 2009.