The World Series by Renault, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, is a motor racing series. The series consists of the flagship Formula Renault 3.5 Series (often referred to as simply World Series by Renault or indeed simply WSR), the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and the Eurocup Mégane Trophy.[2] The F4 Eurocup 1.6 was made part of the World Series in 2010, but was then dropped for 2011.[3]
History
The series came out of the Spanish Formula Renault Championship, which ran from 1991 to 1997. The World Series was founded as Open Fortuna by Nissan in 1998, and was mostly based in Spain, but visited other countries throughout its history, including France, Italy, Portugal and Brazil. The organization was handled by RPM Comunicacion. The series changed name a number of times, usually adopting the name of its main sponsor, but was also known by other common names such as the unofficial "Formula Nissan".
In its early years, the series used chassis built by Coloni, with a 2.0 L Nissan SR20 engine. The series slotted in between Formula 3 and Formula 3000. In 2002, it adopted a new format, with chassis supplied by Dallara and the engine upgraded to the VQ30. The series also became more international, with more than half of the race calendar held outside Spain.
Renault started the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup in 2003, as a support series in Eurosport's Super Racing Weekends (ETCC and FIA GT Championship). The series ran with Tatuus chassis and a Nissan 3.5 L V6 engine.
In 2005, Renault left the Super Racing Weekend and started the World Series by Renault and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, merging both the World Series by Nissan (whose engine contract had finished) and Renault V6 Eurocup. The Dallara chassis was retained, while the Renault V6 was improved to 425 PS. Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and the Eurocup Mégane Trophy also joined the series in 2005 to support the main FR3.5 series.
Technical
From 2008-2010, the chassis for the Formula Renault 3.5 Series is a Dallara built carbon fibre monocoque and the engine a 3.5 litre V6 Nissan VQ35 unit producing 480 bhp with a rev limit of 9500rpm. The gearbox is a 6 speed semi-automatic supplied by Ricardo with steering wheel paddle shift. Total weight of the car is 600 kg (dry).
Starting from 2012 season, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series cars are powered by 3.4 litre V8 producing 530 BHP at 9250 rpm developed by Zytek. The cars have 50 more horsepower than previous season and lost 15 kg (33 pounds) of weight. In addition, Drag Reduction System is used similar to Formula One.[4]
Champions
- World Series by Nissan
NOTE – 1998–2001, mainly Spanish-based series (also known as Formula Nissan) with 2.0L engine.
NOTE – 2002–2004, international series with V6 engine.
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- World Series Lights
- Formula Renault V6 Eurocup
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- World Series by Renault
Notable drivers
- Formula One drivers in the future and/or past
- Marc Gené (1998: Champion, 2003: 12th), competed in Formula One for Minardi and Williams.
- Fernando Alonso (1999: Champion), competed in Formula One for Minardi, McLaren, Ferrari and was twice world champion with Renault.
- Giorgio Pantano (1999: 21st), competed in Formula One for Jordan.
- Franck Montagny (2001: Champion, 2002: 2nd, 2003: Champion), competed in Formula One for Super Aguri, currently with Andretti Autosport in the FIA Formula E Championship.
- Ricardo Zonta (2002: Champion) – 1997 FIA GT Champion, competed in Formula One for BAR, Jordan and Toyota.
- Justin Wilson (2002: 4th), competed in Formula One for Minardi and Jaguar, and currently in IndyCar.
- Narain Karthikeyan (2002: 9th, 2003: 4th, 2004: 6th), competed in Formula One for Jordan and HRT in 2011.
- Heikki Kovalainen (2003: 2nd, 2004: Champion), competed in Formula One for Renault, McLaren, Caterham and Team Lotus.
- Enrique Bernoldi (2003: 6th, 2004: 3rd), competed in Formula One for Arrows.
- Stéphane Sarrazin (2003: 7th), competed in Formula One for Minardi, currently with Venturi Grand Prix in the FIA Formula E Championship.
- Tiago Monteiro (2004: 2nd), competed in Formula One for Jordan and Midland/Spyker.
- Robert Kubica (2005: Champion), has competed in Formula One for BMW and Renault, currently competing in the World Rally Championship.
- Markus Winkelhock (2005: 3rd), one-off Formula One drive for Spyker (Nurburgring 2007).
- Kamui Kobayashi (2005 Eurocup: 1st) has competed in Formula One for Toyota, Sauber and Caterham.
- Karun Chandhok (2005: 29th) has competed in Formula One for HRT and Team Lotus.
- Pastor Maldonado (2005: 25th; 2006: 3rd) has competed in Formula One for Williams, currently competing for Lotus.
- Sebastian Vettel (2006: 15th, 2007: 5th − 1st after seven races, when withdrew to compete in F1) has competed in Formula One for BMW, Scuderia Toro Rosso and was four time Formula One world champion with Red Bull, currently competing for Ferrari.
- Giedo van der Garde (2007: 6th, 2008: Champion) GP2 Series winner competing in Formula One for Caterham. Now currently reserve driver for Sauber.
- Jaime Alguersuari (2009: 6th) has competed in Formula One for Toro Rosso, currently driving for Virgin Racing in the FIA Formula E Championship.
- Daniel Ricciardo (2010: 2nd; 2011: 5th) competed in Formula One for HRT and Toro Rosso, and currently competing for Red Bull.
- Jean-Éric Vergne (2010: 8th; 2011: 2nd) competed in Formula One for Toro Rosso, currently competing for Andretti Formula E Team in Formula E.
- Robin Frijns (2012: Champion) Caterham F1 third driver for 2014.
- Jules Bianchi (2012: 2nd) last competed in Formula One with Marussia.
- Sergey Sirotkin (2013: 8th) Sauber test driver for 2014.
- Kevin Magnussen (2013: Champion) competed in Formula One with McLaren in 2014.
- Carlos Sainz Jr. (2014: Champion) currently competing in Formula One for Toro Rosso.
- Champions in other categories
- Other notable drivers
Television broadcast
World Series by Renault races are broadcast live as part of a package of the combined open-wheel and touring car races on the pan-European Eurosport subscription channel or its sister stations Eurosport2 and British Eurosport. Eurosport is also on-sold to several non-European networks, extending World Series by Renault's international reach as far as South East Asia and Oceania. The races are also carried live by Estonia channel Kanal 12[5] and Spain channel Aragon TV.[6] Abbreviated highlights packages are additionally carried by several other television networks and stations, including the British channels Sky Sports and MotorsTV, the Dutch RTL 7 channel, ESPN Star Sports in Asia, Speed in South America and Esporte Interativo in Brazil.
References
External links
Carlos Sainz Jr.
DAMS
Current season
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