Byrne Bags Bronze in Debut European Season
Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year Jack Byrne claimed a hard fought 3rd place overall in the highly competitive Junior European Clio Cup Championship with some starring performances across the season.
After signing for reigning Clio Cup champions GPA Racing, Byrne enjoyed a successful preseason testing programme before the series kicked off in Nogaro in France at the end of March. With grids regularly exceeding 40 cars the Wexford man would face his toughest challenge of his career so far.
After qualifying in the top 15 for his debut race he soon charged into the top 10 in a wet race punctuated by safety cars to eventually bring the car home in P7. He then duly made the most of the mixed conditions to qualify on the front row for race two and charged into the lead at the start, becoming the first Irish driver to lead a Clio Cup race. After resisting heavy pressure from 15 times Clio Champion Nicolas Milan, a rain shower and subsequent red flag seen the grid switch to wet tyres, however by the restart the track was now dry. He led away again only to suffer heavy tyre degradation which would drop him back to P4 by the end of the race, just missing out on an overall podium on his debut weekend.
Heading to Portugal for round 2, Byrne would experience a mixed weekend and was still getting to grips with the Clio again rivals who had much more seat time with the car and experience of the tracks. Portimao was a new venue for the Clio Cup series and a new track for nearly the entire field. Having survived some early on track chaos in race one and surviving some lairy moments in race two, he brought the car home for two more top 10 finishes and strong points for his Junior Championship challenge.
Heading to Hockenheim for Round 3, Byrne felt more comfortable in the car and this was highlighted by qualifying inside the top 10 in both races in this highly competitive championship. Securing another Junior Podium and top 10 finish in race one, his luck would turn in race two as he was caught up in an accident and the resulting damage dropped him down to 16th by the end of the race.
After a torrid visit to the Misano circuit for Round 4, Byrne aimed to put things right at the famous Spa Francorchamps for Round 5. This marked the halfway point of the championship and Byrne felt more comfortable than ever with the car however he suffered two difficult qualifying sessions which seen him languishing in mid grid for both races. He was charging through the pack in race one until his progress was brought to a sudden halt by a spun car which he had no chance of avoiding and the damage put both cars out on the spot. Fantastic work by the GPA Racing team would see him take the start for race two and he duly repaid the team by charging through the pack to finish inside the top 10 and claim another Junior Championship win.
The Clio Cup returned after its summer break to Magny Cours and Byrne was determined to kick on and challenge for the Junior Championship. However his luck was to take a rather desperate turn as the rounds in Magny Cours, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and Paul Ricard was punctuated by mechanical failures and being in the wrong place at the wrong time when it came to on track incidents. He produced some charging drives despite all the hardship including taking two more Junior Championship wins, including coming from 25th to 8th in Barcelona to snatch the Junior win with a lap to go.
Heading into the final weekend of the year in Monza, Byrne was determined to end the year on a high. He would line up in P10 for the opening race of the weekend and kept cool head to pick his way through the pack to finish P3 and take his first overall Clio Cup Series podium. He showed good pace in race two and was in the fight for the podium once again before contact with another driver ended his chances of a double podium. He finished the season 3rd overall in the Junior Championship, a fantastic achievement for his first season in the Clio Cup.
Jack Byrne #86 GPA Racing
“What an absolute rollercoaster of a season, some lows but some very big highs particularly in Nogaro and Monza. A massive thanks to everyone at GPA Racing for all the hard work across the year and for providing a fantastic race car. A big thanks also to all my corporate partners for their help and support during the year as without this, none of these results would be possible! Finally I’d like to thank everyone for all their support during the season, all the messages, comments and chats over the season it has been very much appreciated. Let’s hope for an even bigger and better 2025!”
Jack Byrne is supported by Motorsport Ireland | Sport Ireland | O’Brien Cement | West Wales Rally Spares | David Byrne Auto Repairs | Slaney View Motors | Ignite Training and Consultancy
