Once again the 2016 UK Clio Cup Champion will be rewarded with a British Touring Car test with Wrotham based Motorbase Performance for the fourth consecutive year.
The coveted test enables the UK Clio Cup Champion to sample one of the most potent cars (Motorbase’s Ford Focus) in Britain’s premier motor racing championship and for the driver to work in an exclusive environment for the day with Dunlop’s motor sport tyre technicians.
Notably in 2015, half the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) grid comprised drivers to have previously competed in the UK Clio Cup and other Renault UK-backed racing categories.
“We pride ourselves on being able to give the top drivers in championships we support a further chance to learn and impress as part of the next step of their careers,” commented Micky Butler, Dunlop’s UK Motorsport Manager.
“The UK Clio Cup has a reputation for producing some of the very best drivers in touring cars and also GT and sportscar competition and that was certainly reflected in the immediate professionalism and abilities of its last three champions (Josh Files, Mike Bushell and Ashley Sutton) when they took part in our test with Motorbase.
“The 2016 UK Clio Cup grid is looking phenomenal and whoever wins the title will richly deserve it. We look forward very much to meeting the new Champion at our test with Motorbase later in the year.”
Will Fewkes, Renaultsport’s UK Motorsport Championship Manager, said: “Dunlop are to be applauded once more for their very generous support of the UK Clio Cup Champion – in fact of motor sport in Britain. It would be very easy for a company not do to something like this but Dunlop, like Renaultsport, genuinely enjoy bringing on talent.
“Tyre technology and understanding how to get the most performance from it are among the biggest strengths any driver can ever have in motor sport. So for the driver who wins the UK Clio Cup to glean such data from a test with one of the world’s most successful motor racing tyre manufacturers – and in one of the fastest cars on the BTCC grid – makes this prize a massively important bonus.”
The race to become the 2016 Renault UK Clio Cup Champion – and win Dunlop’s big British Touring Car test – begins on Sat 2/Sun 3 April with the opening two rounds of the championship at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent. All 18 rounds on the 2016 UK Clio Cup calendar will feature at the BTCC’s high-profile events that draw huge trackside crowds and receive live free-to-air TV coverage on the ITV4 channel.
Image courtesy of Jakob Ebery