JamSport Racing, this year’s Renault UK Clio Cup title winning team, has announced it will field cars in the new Renault UK Clio Cup Junior championship in 2017 for 14 to 17-year-olds.
The team’s 2016 UK Clio Cup Champion Ant Whorton-Eales will provide its Junior drivers with tuition.
JamSport will join fellow UK Clio Cup teams in giving trials to a number of 14 to 17-year-old drivers in Junior-spec cars at a special ‘sampler day’ at Lincolnshire’s Blyton Park track this coming Sunday (30 October).
The Junior-spec cars being sampled by youngsters at Blyton Park are almost identical to those used in the senior UK Clio Cup which features at the British Touring Car Championship’s high-profile events. The only differences are a modification to the ECU – limiting the cars to five gears and a maximum speed of 100mph – and the use of road tyres, Michelin’s high performance Pilot Sport 3. This ensures the cars adhere to strict junior car racing regulations.
JamSport Team Principal Jamie Going enthused: “We believe we will have a fantastic chance of challenging for the first UK Clio Cup Junior title, particularly with Ant Whorton-Eales acting as driver coach – he has, after all, won more races than anybody else in the latest generation car being used and his knowledge will be a huge plus point for our drivers.”
The Northampton squad also has a strong track record in junior car racing having won Fiesta Junior titles in 2015 and 2016.
Going said: “UK Clio Cup Junior is the logical step for us as it enables us to combine all our success in the Fiesta Juniors, working with and progressing young drivers and of course the massive win with Ant in the senior UK Clio Cup this year. It’s a perfect mould of the two.”
And he added: “We have proven that a team with relatively little experience running to modest budgets can still be highly competitive and we’ve also demonstrated the importance of creating a positive environment for drivers.
“UK Clio Cup Junior marks a huge opportunity for us and our young drivers, and of course our target is to win it. What an incredible thing to claim – being the first ever winner of a championship.”
Meanwhile those interested in booking a place at the UK Clio Cup Junior sampler day at Blyton Park should email Renault Sport UK’s Motorsport Championship Manager Will Fewkes will.fewkes-extern@renault.co.uk
He commented: “JamSport’s inclusion is a further fantastic endorsement of our new Junior concept and now brings the number of outfits committing to the championship to five/six following similar announcements from Westbourne Motorsport last week, WDE Motorsport, Ciceley Motorsport and the joint Team Pyro with 20Ten effort.
“We look forward very much to our sampler day at Blyton Park. It will be interesting to hear feedback from the young drivers – we are sure each will be excited by what the car has to deliver in terms of performance, engineering, build quality and sheer driving exhilaration.”
The inaugural Renault UK Clio Cup Junior championship in 2017 will take place over six race weekends (two races per event). Renault Sport UK anticipates that a small privateer entry could contest the full season for as little as £30,000.
