Ciceley Motorsport rewarded their three 2016 Renault UK Clio Cup contenders with a test in their Wix Racing Mercedes A-Class BTCC racer earlier this week.
Max Coates, Dan Zelos and Ollie Pidgley took to the track at Silverstone on Wednesday (5th October) under the watchful eye of the team’s BTCC race-winner Adam Morgan.
For Zelos and Pidgley it was a first ever opportunity to drive BTCC machinery, with Coates having previously made a one-off outing in the series at Croft in 2015 with Support Our Paras Racing.
Coates: “It’s been a phenomenal experience and I’ve loved every second. The Merc is like a big Clio Cup race car in many respects, but then there is the extra performance in terms of power and brakes in particular. I don’t think I’ll stop buzzing for another week!”
Zelos: “It all came to me fairly naturally and I felt comfortable after just a few laps inside the cockpit. The more I adapted to the car, the more I was able to push and I was pleased with my best lap in the end.
“It was an awesome experience and I owe everybody at Ciceley a huge ‘thank you’ for making it possible. Hopefully it will be the first of many. This test has definitely whetted my appetite for the future, because racing in the BTCC is where I want to be.”
Morgan: “They’ve all done a stellar job – very impressive – and that is the UK Clio Cup experience telling. Right from the installation lap we asked each to do to really getting the hammer down later in the day, all three took to touring car machinery very comfortably.”
Those three aren’t the only Clio Cup drivers getting BTCC test opportunities this winter, with champion Ant Whorton-Eales set to drive a Motorbase Performance Ford Focus as part of the Dunlop prize test.
