Tom Barley has announced his plans for the 2015 season and it is a major change as he makes the move to race a Renault Clio.

Barley has been racing in the Volkswagen Racing Cup with Team HARD in previous campaigns but has made the switch to race for 20Ten Racing in the Michelin Clio Cup Series.

He caught the bug for racing in the Clio’s in the 2014 season when he raced in one round for the same team, and he can’t wait to get out racing now.

He said: “To say I’m excited to get out in the car again this year would be an understatement. I’m really eager to get testing so that we hit the ground running for the season opener at Rockingham. I cannot thank IG.com enough to for their continued support.

Having raced in the VW Cup for a number of seasons it was clear that the decision to make the switch wasn’t an easy one to make for Tom.

He added: “In some ways it was a difficult decision to move to Clio’s this year, and in other ways, it made complete sense.

“I had a long standing relationship with Team HARD and that was hard to move away from, but the idea of racing in identical cars against accomplished drivers, with another great, professional team was a real arm twister. It was time to switch things up, and try something new.

“The VW Cup is a strong, well established championship, so it was great to experience two seasons of it. I had some extremely fun times, which I’ll always look back on and smile at. At the same time, if you keep doing the same thing you’re not challenging yourself and you become complacent.

Having raced in one round last season with Team 20Ten racing it made complete sense for Tom to team up with them again for a full season.

“Having done one round with 20Ten in 2014, I confident in the level of prep and support that I can expect from them. I hope they’re going to make me feel at home, and show me the passion for racing that gets the best results from us, as the drivers.”

Finally we asked Tom whether he was setting himself any goals for his debut season in the Michelin Clio Cup series.

He said: “I proved at Brands last year that my one lap pace is quick enough to mix it with the best, but I also learnt that you need to be doing that lap after lap to get to the front. I’m aiming for solid top ten finishes at the start of the year, with a podium target by the seasons end.”