NEW RENAULT CLIO COULD STILL BE RACED IN THE UK IN 2020
Renault Sport Racing is evaluating whether the UK Clio championship should continue
The new fifth-generation Renault Clio Cup car could be introduced into the UK after all, with Renault Sport Racing evaluating whether to run a significantly-revised Clio championship next year.
It was revealed in December that the current category was going to be axed at the end of the 2019 season, with Renault UK deciding it no longer fitted with its marketing strategy.
Following the announcement, the series has struggled with small grids this year as just nine drivers took part in the most recent round at Oulton Park.
Renault Sport insisted it was still looking at how the manufacturer could feature in UK motorsport in the future and now plans for a revised series are being discussed.
As well as the new car, changes for the proposed series include fewer rounds, two races at European circuits and a switch away from the British Touring Car Championship’s support package.
Renault Sport Racing sporting manager Tarik Ait Said explained that the plans are still a “work in progress” and interest levels are being assessed – with a decision on whether to go ahead with the category being taken by the end of September at the latest.
“It would be a Clio Cup championship but in a different format to what it is right now,” he told MN. “We would reduce from eight or nine meetings that there’s been until now to perhaps about seven. We would also assess the possibility to do races outside of the country.
“The FIA now allows national series to go to other countries two times, not one, so this makes many new options that we couldn’t consider until now. We’ve organised Clio Cup Open races at Paul Ricard and Hockenheim and what we saw from all those races was that, if it’s an interesting track, all the British drivers are responding positively. They want to go to famous tracks.”
It’s planned that Clio Cup championships across the world will work more closely together.
“Each championship will have its own base and they would all have one or two meetings with other championships,” added
Ait Said. “It makes strong budget sense – whenever you do things together, you share the cost of the tracks.”
If a Clio Cup series does go ahead next year – with Ait Said admitting Brexit uncertainty makes for a “scary” and “special” UK situation – it would be targeted at a different type of driver.
“A few years back the Clio Cup UK became the necessary step for drivers wanting to have a career in the BTCC,” he said. “This was a limiting factor for the UK Clio Cup – it was way too professional. The championships that have the big grid numbers, the bulk of their grids are not the top professional drivers. The bulk of their grid is made up of drivers who are here to have a good weekend and this who we want to target. This makes it sustainable.”
Ait Said states there are a number of options of where the series could run next year after moving away from the “fantastic” TOCA platform. He says one of these options is to work with SRO – which Renault Sport has existing partnerships with – and join the British GT package.
The fifth-generation Clio Cup car was launched last month.one of its major features is that kits can be bought with the 1.3-litre turbocharged car to convert it between race, rally and rallycross.