Further boost for grid as Reeve & Specialized join at Snetterton
24th July 2018
Nick Reeve (Romford) and Specialized Motorsport will make their Renault UK Clio Cup debut together in the championship’s forthcoming rounds at Snetterton (Sat 28/Sun 29 July).
The news means that as many as 23 cars could be on the Clio Cup grid at the Norfolk circuit with Intercleanse-backed Nathan Edwards (Tunbridge Wells) set to return with WDE Motorsport and Ben Colburn (Worthing) bringing forward previously announced plans to race with the Westbourne Motorsport team.
MRM meanwhile has already confirmed it will run a third car from Snetterton onwards for its 2017 Clio Cup Junior Champion Jack Young (Belfast)…
Reeve is looking forward to his debut in the senior Clio Cup which features at the high profile British Touring Car Championship’s events. That means trackside crowds of almost 40,000 people per event while the race action is also broadcast live across the nation on ITV4…
The 16-year-old, a race winner in junior-level Clio Cup and Ford Fiesta with Specialized, commented: “This is a major step up from club racing but I’m going to try and take it all in my stride.
“The plan is to do the remainder of this season with Specialized Motorsport so we can gain as much experience together as possible for a full season in 2019.
“I actually tested the Clio Cup car in senior spec at Snetterton a while ago and the pace was encouraging. It’ll be interesting to go up against drivers like Bradley Burns again who I know from previous experience.”
Specialized Team Principal Simon Horrobin has himself previously raced in the Clio Cup but this will be the first time his team’s name has appeared on the grid.
“As a company we are already involved on the engineering side with a couple of the BTCC teams but to finally put our name out there like this is good progress for us,” said Horrobin.
“We have no real expectations – the Clio Cup is very competitive with some of the best drivers in the UK in it. On saying that we will be trying very hard – we have good experience of these cars and motor sport in general and Nick is a very exciting talent.
“We want to focus on him for the time being as we find our feet, but then look to add more drivers in future.”
Renault Sport’s UK Motorsport Championship Manager Will Fewkes added: “It’s great to be coming back from the lengthy mid-season break with potentially our biggest grid in 15 months. Specialized’s appearance again shows how accessible the Clio Cup is for smaller outfits with BLG and DRM already running competitively with similar sized set-ups.
“Nick and Specialized clearly have a very strong bond so it will be interesting to see what progress they can make in our remaining four events this year.”
