About the Championship
Clio Cup racing is regarded throughout Britain and Europe as the most action-packed of its kind and in 2007 the UK category entered a fresh chapter of its history with the arrival of the brand new 197 racer, based on the successful roadcar of the same name.
Exceeding all expectations with regard to popularity among competitors and teams, an unprecedented total of 50 drivers registered for the championship in 2007. For the coming season, however, numbers will be capped at 36 cars.
ELF Renault Clio Cup first began in 1990 as the successor to the Renault 5 series and quickly became established as a key proving ground for the future champions of
touring cars and sportscars.
While reigning champion Martin Byford will graduate to the SEAT Cupra Championship in 2008, the 2006 title winner Tom Onslow-Cole managed to secure a deal with Team RAC in the British Touring Car Championship last year proving the Clio Cup's worth as a key feeder series.
Past Clio Cup racers also include World Touring Car Championship front-runner Robert Huff, FIA GT Championship star Andrew Kirkaldy and current BTCC star Matt Allison.
As a key support series on the BTCC package the Clio Cup races in front of the biggest crowds in UK motorsport. In addition, Clio Cup forms part of the annual British round of the World Series by Renault festival which, in 2007, attracted an incredible 135,000 fans. Having been held at Donington Park's Grand Prix Circuit for the past few seasons, the 2008 staging of the festival will take place at the home of the British Grand Prix, Silverstone. The event will actually go down in the history books as the first ever race meeting for the Clio Cup on Silverstone's full Grand Prix layout.
The current 197 race model is the third phase Clio, producing 205bhp from its 2.0-litre engine, and in 2008 the championship is once again expecting capacity grids as some of the most talented saloon car racers in the country go head-to-head to battle it out for one of the most prestigious championship trophies in UK motorsport.
Furthermore, the eventual 2008 ELF Renault Clio Cup Champion will also receive, as part of their prize, a test at the Paul Ricard facility in the south of France at the wheel of a Eurocup Megane Trophy race car.
