- Multiple race-winning Renault UK Clio Cup outfit set to compete for maiden title.
- Worthing-based team look to reclaim Michelin Clio Cup Series glory.
- Expansion into the Ginetta Junior Championship on the team’s radar.
Westbourne Motorsport are set to compete on multiple fronts in 2018 after confirming their return to contest both the Renault UK Clio Cup and the Michelin Clio Cup Series.
Their race-winning heritage in the former, which runs on the British Touring Car Championship support package and regularly enjoys an audience in excess of 30,000 trackside and millions more through ITV’s live television coverage, was cemented last year with victories at Thruxton, Oulton Park and Silverstone in the hands of James Dorlin and James Colburn.
The team were also unlucky not to add a second consecutive Michelin Clio Cup Series title to their trophy cabinet, with Anton Spires eventually finishing runner-up to Ben Palmer on a dramatic final weekend at Silverstone.
The BARC-run series provides a cost-effective home to the third generation, 2.0 litre Clio Cup car previously used by the Renault UK Clio Cup until 2013.
As well as returning to both highly-competitive single make championships, the team is also eyeing up a move to the successful Ginetta Junior category for 2018.
The championship, which features 1.8 litre Ginetta G40 models and also benefits from the exposure of the TOCA package, has helped develop and produce several of recent history’s national stars, including 2017 BTCC Independents champion Tom Ingram and British F4 champion Jamie Caroline.
In total, Westbourne are set to embark on a campaign encompassing over fifteen race meetings alongside their continued successful forays into historic racing at the Goodwood Revival.
Details of driver line-ups will be announced in due course, with the Worthing-based outfit already confirming last week that James Dorlin will return to the fold for the upcoming season.
Westbourne are now preparing for their pre-season testing programme before another busy racing season kicks off around the National configuration of Silverstone – often dubbed the ‘Home of British Motorsport’ – over the weekend of 24/25 March 2018.
Richard Colburn, Team Principal said, “The team have got another busy season ahead and plenty of opportunities to challenge for race victories and for titles. In the Renault UK Clio Cup we’re set to run two serious championship contenders, both multiple race-winners in the category and both previous champions at junior level. In the Michelin Clio Cup Series we have a number of drivers who could lift the title so it’s sure to be a full-on campaign.
“We’re still looking to finalise our driver line-ups to compete in the Renault UK Clio Cup Junior and the Ginetta Junior Championship, but as triple champions in the junior categories of national racing we’re confident there are no teams better equipped to develop the next generation of national motorsport stars.”