Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in Kent hosts the first official ELF Clio Renaultsport UK Cup test of the year this Wednesday with the current list of 18 registered drivers set to increase ahead of the first round of the season next month.

Front-running outfit Xcel Motorsport will field a four-car assault on the series with leading Clio Cup racers Eoin Murray (Dublin) and Oli Wilkinson (Solihull) to be joined by Neil Waterworth (Norden, Rochadale) and Charlie Butler-Henderson (Royston).

Mardi Gras Motorsport has announced it will run two cars, with a view to adding a third, for Beckenham’s Ed Pead and Cornishman John George (Par). Pead finished an impressive sixth overall in last season’s championship and looks likely to be one of the title favourites this year.

West Midlands-based Total Control Racing has signed Irishman Jonathan Fildes (Trim, Co.Meath) and Kevin Lloyd (Wolverhampton) while also preparing a third car for ex-Volkswagen racer Nick Adcock (Bromyard, Hertfordshire) who will enter his Clio under the name of Raw Media Racing.

The 2003 ELF Clio Renaultsport UK Cup will see Surrey teenager Tom Onslow-Cole (New Malden) compete with a family-run car as the youngest ever driver in the history of any of Renault’s one-make championships.

The former karter, who finished fifth in last year’s BRSCC T-Car Championship, celebrates his 16th birthday in May so will therefore only be permitted to make his Clio Cup debut at the Silverstone round of the series on June 6th/7th/8th.

Leicestershire’s Team Griffin Racing moves into its second year in the championship with team owner Julian Griffin (Fleckney) and Paul Maguire (Salisbury) looking to build on a successful winter series where both secured respective best-ever race results of fourth and third.

Mark Davies, vice-champion of the 2002 ELF Clio Renaultsport Winter Championship, will again enter his family-run car into the championship and will be hoping to mount a serious title challenge as he bids to build on his first-ever Clio Cup race win, achieved at Donington Park in November.

Vince Martin (Epping, Essex) will continue to run under the Martin Motorsport banner while Lincolnshire’s Martin Johnson (Alford) will again compete as part of Boulevard Team Racing.

Former Mini Miglia and Mini Seven Championship winning team SpeedEquipe Motorsport debuts in 2003 and will field two cars – one for ex-Mini Miglia and Mini Seven Champion Ian Curley (Marden, Kent) and the other for former Mini and Ford Fiesta racer Rob Cullum (Bristol).

Tim Sugden Motorsport, meanwhile, will enter one car in the 2003 championship for the winner of this year’s Michelin Renault Scholarship. The final of the annual contest will be held at the Croft circuit, near Darlington, on Friday.