HAVING excelled in the Renault Clio Cup in recent seasons, North Yorkshire driver Max Coates will be scaling down in size but not ambition this year when he tackles the Mini Challenge.

With the Clio Cup having been removed from the list of support series at the ten British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) events, Scorton-based Coates has spent the winter assessing his driving options.

He had hoped to secure a seat on the BTCC grid, and while that has not been possible for this season, it remains the 26-year-old’s long-term ambition.

In the meantime, Coates will be driving for the Elite Motorsport team as they enter two cars in this year’s Mini Challenge.

A place in the Mini Challenge ensures he remains involved in the biggest weekends in UK motorsport, and while he will be making his racing debut in a mini when the series begins at Donington Park at the end of next month, he should be competitive from the outset.

“After a very successful test with the Elite Motorsport team I am happy to be signing with them for the 2020 season,” said Coates. “I drove the car for the first time two weeks ago and immediately got to grips with it.

“I’d like to thank Team HARD Racing for all their efforts last season. While it had been my aim to step up to the BTCC, it just wasn’t possible this year. The BTCC is my aim and I believe being in the Mini Challenge with Elite Motorsport is the best place to achieve that - I’m really excited for this season.”

Coates will join new team-mate Lewis Galer in the Elite Motorsport set-up, and has just returned from a series of successful pre-season testing sessions at Calafat in Spain.

He brings a wealth of BTCC support experience to his new team, having claimed 14 races wins in the last four seasons as he has repeatedly challenged for the Clio Cup title.

Elite Motorsport are equally well established, having been champions for the last three years in Ginetta Juniors and claimed last season’s Ginetta GT4 Supercup crown.

Neither Coates nor Elite Motorsport have previous experience racing the Gen 3 F56 Mini Hatch JCW car, but their chief engineer, Richard Skeels, and lead mechanic, Martin Poole, have fronted a championship-winning campaign in the Mini Challenge in their former roles.

“The three-day test was very useful and we were able to make a number of changes to the car to understand how it would react,” said Coates, who finished in second place overall in last season’s Clio Cup championship rankings. “I’m confident that with another few days under our belt before the season starts, we will be ready to hit the ground running at Donington.

“I’m really looking forward to working with Eddie (Ives, team owner of Elite Motorsport), Rich and Martin this year alongside my long-standing mechanical team.”

The new Mini Challenge series begins at Donington on the weekend of March 28-29, and Coates will already be looking ahead to the weekend of August 15-16, when the BTCC makes its annual visit to Croft Circuit.

Having claimed two Clio Cup wins on his local racetrack last year, Coates will be hoping for more local success come the middle of summer, when he will aim to be in the thick of the championship battle.

“We are extremely excited to have Max on board,” added Ives. “With his experience of front-wheel drive cars and having run at the front in the Clio Cup, there is no doubt that he will be an integral part of Elite Motorsport’s fight for the Mini Challenge title.”