Bushell heads back to Renault Clio Cup after BTCC chances dry up

Former Renault UK Clio Cup champion Mike Bushell will return to the series this year after being unable to secure a seat in the British Touring Car Championship.

The 26-year-old won the Clio title in 2014 and graduated to the BTCC last year driving an AMD Ford Focus. But Bushell endured a tough campaign, with a hefty shunt at Thruxton denting his budget.

Bushell will now rejoin Team Pyro in Clios this year, the sqaud he won the title with.

“Last year didn’t go as well as I would’ve hoped,” he said. “The BTCC is very easy to get drawn in to and it’s like an addictive drug, it’s very easy to make decisions that don’t work out in the long run, so I’ve decided to go back to Clios.

“Pyro are great friends of mine. I helped Ciceley run in their new cars and then started talking to Pyro. It was great to get back behind the wheel.”

Pyro boss Mark Hunt said: “The transition to touring cars is very difficult. Mike was driving quite an old car and that makes it tough – it’s like playing tennis with a smaller racket. Some people go into touring cars and you never see them again, so it’s great to have Mike back.”

Irishman David Dickenson will also rejoin the team, having previously raced in the UK Clio Cup and Clio Eurocup with Pyro. He also finished runner-up in the 2014 Clio Race Series with the squad.

“There’s no reason why Mike or David can’t win the title,” said Hunt.

Reigning Masters Cup champion Mark Howard will also remain with Pyro. “It will be nice to try and go for the Masters again with Mark,” Hunt added.

Pyro plans to run a couple more cars in the series and the drivers of those will be announced in the next few weeks once the deals have been confirmed.