Renault withdraw from FR3.5

[Hawkwood]

Not sure what thread to put this in really.

But anyway, I did not see this coming, Renault are withdrawing backing for FR3.5 from the end of this season.

Jaime Alguersuari Sr is apparently the favourite to take over running it as he has run it previously.

[Mekola]

Wonder if Mr Coloni would want to join forces with Mr Alguersuari again... In the beggining, the Euro Open by Nissan used Coloni chassis.

[Rob29]

Does this mean they they are scrapping the whole World Series Renault? There are certainly too many series claiming to be F1 feeders?

[gert]

From what I understand (from the Autosport.com article) "The World Series by Renault format is set to continue, and Renault Sport will focus its energies on the FR2.0 Eurocup and RS.01 Trophy." -- that would mean they (Renault) would keep the WorldSeries concept, just remove the FR3.5 event from it?

Weird.

I have attended the last 5 (I think) WorldSeries events at Spa. Without FR3.5 I'm not sure it's still worth going there (for me)

[WSR Fan]

This has been rumoured a little recently, but it's still a bit of a surprise to hear it confirmed.

As well as the FIA F2 series being a factor in this decision, they've also said "marketing and commercial reasons" were behind it too – I think Renault's increased involvement in Formula E from next season is quite a big factor and maybe there will be a renewed push in F1 after the struggles of this season, so the money has to come from somewhere and FR3.5 is the casualty it seems?

I do like the proposals that have been mentioned - I think a potential €600,000 prize and 35 Superlicence points for the champion (plus €200,000 for top rookie) would be a great incentive for drivers to join the series. It's also interesting that they say the prize is aimed at "bridging the gap to a Formula 2 budget or to be spent on sportscars", given the increasing amount of single-seater drivers who've switched to WEC, ELMS etc. over the last five years or so.

And if the series is no longer part of the WSR, it'll be interesting to see what kind of future calendar comes out of it. I imagine a few more supports with ELMS, Blancpain Endurance/Sprint series rounds etc. will happen plus maybe a couple of standalone events too?

Will be extremely keen to find out details of the meeting that's planned for this Thursday.

[Go_For_Pole]

Where would that money prize come from without Renault?

[WSR Fan]

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

Where would that money prize come from without Renault?

I suppose in the current economic climate it might be a risk, but I was thinking a title sponsor - like back in the World Series by Nissan days when they had Telefonica and Superfund or now with the Duo-sponsored BRDC F4 championship.

They already have long-time partners in Elf, Michelin etc. and with it being a successful, high profile series I'm pretty sure they could find a solution.

[gert]

Originally Posted by WSR Fan

They already have long-time partners in Elf, Michelin etc. and with it being a successful, high profile series I'm pretty sure they could find a solution.

True, but how many are partners of FR3.5 and how many are partners of Renault?

[bella]

without knowing details etc and speaking purely anecdotally purely from visual clues, this one's been coming for a few years. which is a huge shame because it works, and the entire programme has been a great thing for the spectator especially in the uk. without something really big and noisy to lure people to the wsr events it's going to be hard to get bums on seats.

it'll be hard work for rpm to keep the prestige going with 3.5 especially if it doesn't remain on the world series by renault programme. and it's also hard work to see where it would fit in the market without some serious investment in more reliable and longer lifed components. also perhaps looking at it very differently and trying to forge deals with something like lmp2 or lmp3 for dual elms campaigns to try and force-feed an alternate career progression path into the mix.

promptly paid decent race-by-race prize money might work to entice those without gp2 budgets in, but then you're relying on drivers with less than big wedges of cash and that makes it hard for teams to commit to something they're unlikely to get a secure seat from.

in a way it'd be better if everyone walked away at the end of the season instead of trying to sustain it in an already weak market, but there's plenty of reasons why that wouldn't be clever.

[old man]

With no money from Renault it will be difficult to build a reasonable prize fund to tempt drivers and Renault had fight the FIA to get the 35 points for a Super licence. Next move could be the FIA removing the points and then it would have lost that incentive.

There are too many series chasing driver budgets and this looks like the casualty that was almost inevitable. I do agree that without the big cars the remaining Renault series is somewhat insipid and may itself need to find another partner.

I suspect the lure of Bernie money to return to F1 mat be behind this

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by bella

without knowing details etc and speaking purely anecdotally purely from visual clues, this one's been coming for a few years. which is a huge shame because it works, and the entire programme has been a great thing for the spectator especially in the uk. without something really big and noisy to lure people to the wsr events it's going to be hard to get bums on seats.

it'll be hard work for rpm to keep the prestige going with 3.5 especially if it doesn't remain on the world series by renault programme. and it's also hard work to see where it would fit in the market without some serious investment in more reliable and longer lifed components. also perhaps looking at it very differently and trying to forge deals with something like lmp2 or lmp3 for dual elms campaigns to try and force-feed an alternate career progression path into the mix.

promptly paid decent race-by-race prize money might work to entice those without gp2 budgets in, but then you're relying on drivers with less than big wedges of cash and that makes it hard for teams to commit to something they're unlikely to get a secure seat from.

in a way it'd be better if everyone walked away at the end of the season instead of trying to sustain it in an already weak market, but there's plenty of reasons why that wouldn't be clever.

That's why I suggested an entente cordiale with the AutoGP - it means Mr Coloni. They were associates in the past, they could be in the future.

[WSR Fan]

RPM will take over full control of the FR3.5 Series with a three-year deal starting in 2016:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120634

Great news that the championship will continue, although there is obviously major restructuring work to do.

Incidentally, I found this very good article the other day on the subject which sums things up very well I think.

[bella]

elms have revealed the plans for the eurocup and rs01 series next year in their calendar...

Europe’s leading endurance race series will also be joined for the majority of the six races by the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Renault Sport Trophy, giving the fans a regular support race package to enjoy throughout the 2016 season.

European Le Mans Series Provisional 2016 Calendar

Prologue 29/30 March TBA TBA
RD1 15/16 April Silverstone UK WEC
RD2 13-15 May Imola ITALY RST
RD3 15-17 July Red Bull Ring AUSTRIA RST / FR2.0
RD4 26-28 August Paul Ricard France RST / FR2.0
RD5 23-25 September Spa-Francorchamps BELGIUM* RST / FR2.0
RD6 21-23 October Estoril PORTUGAL RST / FR2.0
*to be confirmed

[WSR Fan]

And rather interestingly Eurocup FR2.0 is also joining the Monaco GP support program from next year too, presumably taking FR3.5's slot at the event. Plus they've said that there will be no date clashes between the Eurocup, FR2.0 ALPS and FR2.0 NEC, so drivers if they wish can do full seasons in two of them and thus earn two lots of Super Licence points - looks like FR2.0 organisers are really putting there weight and support behind the category in the face of F4 competition.

The FR3.5 (or whatever they decide to call it) calendar for next year is apparently being released over the Silverstone weekend so it'll be very interesting indeed to see how RPM have revamped it.

[bella]

to be fair there's several doing eurocup/nec dual programmes this year already - 5 events in a row for those guys over the next month.

i think losing monaco will be a more significant blow to the series than losing renault support.

[jodi]

http://www.motorsport.com/frenault-3...rganisers-say/

[peebee2]

Perhaps the newly renamed World Series will join the Euroformula Open and GT Open bill?

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

That could work nicely, and with the circuits could benefit both EFO and GT Open as well. EFO could work as the FR Eurocup does as an effective feeder series. Of course this is all wishful thinking

[Mekola]

I would not discard an alliance with Coloni...

[bella]

why would they want anything to do with coloni? out of interest.

[Alessio]

Originally Posted by bella

why would they want anything to do with coloni? out of interest.

Coloni have experience with running this sort of level championship and of course their prior links with the series during the WSbyNissan days. Considering what happened with AutoGP, I doubt it though too.

[gert]

Coloni arranged the cars for Formula Nissan. There's no need for cars right now.

Can't see it happening.

[chunterer]

I hope RPM keep the current regs, cars and engines.

The zytek can be temperamental but it is a solid, powerful unit.

Wonder what the '6 F1 tracks' will be?

Presumably we are looking at the current 5 plus one more?

I would hazard a guess at

1/ Silverstone
2/ Nurburgring
3/ Monza
4/ Jerez or Barcelona maybe both if it's more Spanish oriented like the early days once again?
5/ Hungaroring
6/ Paul Ricard

The other rounds could be
Motorland
Moscow
Portimao

Any other likelies?

[WSR Fan]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120806

Well, according to the article, the potential circuits for next year are:

Motorland Aragon
Monza
Silverstone
Red Bull Ring
Spa
Barcelona
Nurburgring
Hungaroring
Paul Ricard

If we get a calendar containing those (especially Silverstone, Monza and Spa), I'd be pretty damn happy!

[NaBUru38]

And then there's the point that the top levels of junior single-seaters in Europe don't just serve as a launchpad for F1.

For quite a few names, these series have been a pathway to endurance racing or DTM; and now, with Formula E in the mix, the electric open-wheel alternative would very much benefit from having a big pool of top-level open-wheel juniors to choose from.

Everyone seems to forget that, most especially FIA.