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Newly-crowned
ELF Renault Clio Cup champion Martin Byford (Colchester) made a stunning
impression on his debut in a Eurocup Mégane Trophy car, coming within a fraction
of a second of drivers with more experience in the 330hp racer during testing.
The test at the state-of-the-art Paul Ricard circuit in southern France is part
of the 35-year-old’s prize for winning the record-breaking 2007 ELF Renault Clio
Cup.
Byford,
whose Clio Cup win is his sixth national racing title, lapped the 2.39-mile Paul
Ricard circuit in 1min 32.707s during the second of two 50-minute stints. This
was better than both the Dutch Clio Cup champion Tim Buijs and German Clio Cup
champion Krisitan Nagele who shared the car run by the Verschuur
team.
Commenting
on his performance, Byford, who wore a special race suit courtesy of ELF Renault
Clio Cup associate sponsor THB Clowes, said: “It was a fantastic experience at a
cracking circuit and a tremendous prize at the end of a hard-fought Clio Cup
season. It took some time to adapt to the car and learn the circuit but by the
end I was very confident.
“There
is one corner at the end of a long straight that we were told in the driver
briefing is taken flat by the top drivers. You can feel the downforce working on
the car as you go faster and by the end of the day I was flat through the corner
in sixth gear at 135mph. Often with saloon cars you can drive them too hard but
the Mégane simply rewards you for driving it harder and harder – it’s a
fantastic machine.
“The
Mégane Trophy handles like a single-seater and it took me back 10 years to my
Formula 3 days. Although there wasn’t much time to go through data between the
sessions, I matched Buijs’ time on new tyres when I still had old rubber on.
When I was given a full set of new tyres I got my time down by about
seven-tenths of a second, which I was really pleased with.
“The car
was set-up by the Verschuur team throughout the day but I think if I was able to
work with my regular Z Speed Racing team, we would be on the ultimate pace
within one or two days of testing.”
Byford,
whose Clio Cup title win came just weeks before he became a father for the first
time, added: “It would be great to race in the Eurocup Mégane Trophy but as an
option for next year, with a two-week-old baby, it’s probably out of the
question with the amount of travelling involved.”
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