Byford aims for Cupra title win

Byford won last year's Renault Clio Cup with 284 points

Essex racing driver Martin Byford is hoping to add the SEAT Cupra title to his successful racing CV.

Byford heads into the British Touring Car Championship supporting series as the reigning Renault Clio Cup champion and is confident he can be competitive.

The Colchester driver told BBC Essex: "In testing our lap times have been good, we've been consistent and we've been quick."

The championship gets under way at Brands Hatch on 29 April.

Interview: SEAT Cupra racer Martin Byford

The former Mazda MX-5 and Super Coupe Cup champion is well aware of how difficult the competition will be this season, but is hoping to be in the thick of the action.

He said: "You always go in it to win it, we wouldn't be otherwise.

"There are guys who finished in the top three in the championship last year who are back again for another go so those guys are going to be very quick.

"[In testing] We've been quicker than the lap record everywhere we've been to and we've been quicker than the pole position time everywhere we've been except at one circuit.

MARTIN BYFORD FACTFILE Byford was the 1995 British Formula 3 Class B Champion He took twelve wins on his way to the 2003 Super Coupe Cup title In 2008 he will be racing a 2 litre turbo-charged SEAT Leon for Z-Speed Racing

"The pure times would suggest we're going to be competitive."

As has been the case for most of his career in both single-seater and saloon car racing, Byford will be competing with the family run Z-Speed team.

The 35-year-old relishes the chance for the team to take on some of the country's biggest racing teams.

He explained: "It really is almost a part-time family operation and we're going out against guys that are doing this for a living.

"There are teams here that turn up with four or five cars and twenty people to run them and that is what they do. They are professional teams who are paid to run drivers in the championship.

"And here we are, turning up with four of us going out to give them a hard time, so it's satisfying from that point of view."

The SEAT Cupra Championship will be run over 22 races at tracks including Donington Park, Silverstone and Snetterton as part of the high-profile TOCA package, which is headlined by the British Touring Car Championship.