Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Yorkshire’s Max Coates is set to compete on the international stage for the second time in 2018. Following his success in the hugely competitive Renault UK Clio Cup the BRDC Rising star has claimed a spot in the International Renault Clio Cup Final at Paul Ricard in the South of France.
Coates finished as the runner-up in the UK based series at Brands Hatch at the end of September and in doing so takes one of seven UK spaces for the Paul Ricard races. The top 5 in the championship, the graduate champion, which Coates won in his first Clio Cup season in 2016, and one additional driver will have the opportunity to compete at the event on the 3rd and 4th November.
With remote support from his Pyro Motorsport team, Coates has retained backing from his sponsors to compete in the event, namely Harron Homes , Primex Plastics , RPC bpi PLASgran, Bennett Renault, Jackson Graham Accountants and JiC Transport.
Competitors from the UK will join drivers from the Chinese and Spanish Clio Cup for the final round of the Spanish season. This will allow them all to gain sufficient track testing time ahead of the International Final on Sunday afternoon (16:25 CEST). Qualifying for the race will take place at 14:00 CEST with the top drivers from the UK, China, Spain, Italy, Central Europe and France.
The International Final race will be live-streamed on the Renault Sport YouTube page in which the winner will take home a 280hp Mégane Renault Sport. Live timing for the duration of the event will be available from ITS Results.
An ecstatic Coates said, “To get another opportunity to race on an international level this season is fantastic, I’m hugely grateful to my partners for their continued support to make this happen. The announcement to race came quite late and they all supported me straight away! Paul Ricard is a circuit I have never driven but I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been practicing on my simulator doing all the research possible. It’s going to be difficult to beat drivers from the other countries on their own turf, one thing is for sure though, I’ll be giving it everything possible to win!”
Renault Sport’s UK Motorsport Championship Manager Will Fewkes commented: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our drivers to take on the best of the best in Clio Cup competition from across the world. This event rekindles the spirit of the famous Renault Finals of old and we are confident we will be very well represented.
Tarik Ait Said, Sporting Manager, Renault Sport Racing said: “Gathering all the Clio Cup championships that Renault holds worldwide, the Clio Cup International Final will not only be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the enduring success of Clio but also a stage where the cream of the crop of each national Cup will be pitched against each other to crown the best among the best. Given the level of competitiveness that the UK Clio Cup has shown over the years, we expect the British contingent to be on the pace straight away.”
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