Hornby, aged just 17, was a late addition to the season’s entry list when it was released last week. But he is confident of making a positive impact when the season gets under way with its opening two races at the famous Brands Hatch circuit in Kent (Sat 1/Sun 2 April).

All 18 races on this year’s UK Clio Cup calendar will take place at the British Touring Car Championship’s high profile events – guaranteeing huge trackside crowds (avg. 38,000-plus in 2016) as well as live free-to-air television coverage on ITV4 for its teams, driver and sponsors.

Hornby’s car will be prepared jointly by multiple title-winning squad Team Pyro and fellow UK Clio Cup outfit 20Ten Racing and be backed by Slater Gordon, PKW Properties and Ryley Wealth Management.

The Cheshire racer commented: “The action in the UK Clio Cup is very similar to that in the BTCC and that’s the type of racing I like – it’s always close whereas the other categories tend to get spread out a bit.

“My style is to get stuck in and I certainly don’t mind other cars being close to me on the track. The UK Clio Cup cars are also much more developed and more towards a touring car – it makes it very attractive for a young driver.”

Hornby will have to learn quickly however – after two seasons in rear-wheel-drive Ginetta Juniors on road tyres he’s suddenly moving to a much faster, front-wheel-drive car which uses slick Michelin racing rubber.

But he added: “The Brands Hatch Indy circuit, which we’ll be racing on, tends to bunch things up even more so, even if you’re not quite on the ultimate pace there, it’s still possible to get a result.

“I’d really like to get some top ten results in my first year but I’m under no illusions – this is a massively competitive championship and history shows that it takes two to three years to get right to the top.”

Mark Hunt, Principal of Leicester-based Team Pyro, said: “Kyle has immediately fitted right in with our team – a really impressive young character. The fact he likes his racing to be close is what we want to hear because that is exactly what he is going to get in Clios!”

Renault Sport’s UK Motorsport Championship Manager Will Fewkes stated: “We very much welcome Kyle to the UK Clio Cup grid – he is another of the very promising young talents to be drawn to the championship’s competitive nature and huge levels of exposure and we wish him well in his debut season.”