Vastly experienced Renault UK Clio Cup outfit Total Control Racing has confirmed it will enter the sister Michelin Clio Cup Race Series this year, having agreed a deal for team stalwart Mike Robinson to make a challenge for the category’s inaugural championship crown.With the flagship British Touring Car Championship support series welcoming the arrival of the new turbo-powered Clio this season, the previous generation cars now have a new home in the Michelin Clio Cup Race Series where Wednesbury-based TCR aims to hit the ground running from the off.Robinson and TCR will be going into their seventh year of association in 2014, the partnership having begun in the Renault UK Clio Cup Winter Series in 2007. Finishing sixth overall in the following year’s main championship campaign, Robinson was sixth again in 2009 and then an improved fifth in 2010.Switching to the Ginetta GT5 Challenge with Lee Brookes’ squad in 2012, the Surbiton racer put together a fantastic campaign in his first year competing in a Ginetta G40 and ended the season as Vice-Champion with four race wins, a total of 11 podiums and seven pole position starts.Last season, Robinson teamed-up with his friend and UKIP Media & Events work colleague Graham Johnson to contest the Britcar Production Cup in a TCR engineered SEAT Leon Cupra. Becoming race winners, the duo ended the campaign ninth overall.Now, 31-year-old Robinson will make a welcome return to racing a front-wheel drive, 2.0-litre, third generation Clio and will undoubtedly be a major contender from the off when the season begins on 5th/6th April at Rockingham in Northamptonshire.“It’s great Mike has wanted to come back to Clios this year and we know he’ll be right at the front, the aim is to fight for the championship”, said TCR team principal Brookes, “Before moving into the Ginettas, Mike was a consistent front-runner in the Renault UK Clio Cup and we’re sure he’ll be back up to speed in the Clio in no time.“The Clio Cup Series looks like being one of the most popular championships in the country this year, we’re hopeful of running three or four cars in it if we can. It’s a great place for drivers to learn about Clio racing, and at a sensible budget, before moving up into the BTCC support championship. We’re hungry to get back to winning ways with Renault, with Mike on board we’ve got a great chance.”The 2014 Michelin Clio Cup Race Series will be contested across six weekends, two races at each event, and will visit Rockingham, Oulton Park, Donington Park, Brands Hatch and Snetterton before the season finale on 20th/21st September at Croft in North Yorkshire.
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