Formula V8 3.5

Formula V8 3.5
Country Europe
Inaugural season 1998
Constructors Dallara
Engine suppliers Zytek badged as Renault[1]
Tyre suppliers Michelin[2]
Drivers' champion United Kingdom Oliver Rowland
Teams' champion United Kingdom Fortec Motorsports
Official website Official website
Current season

The Formula V8 3.5, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004 and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series is a motor racing series, promoted by RPM Racing (since 1998) and Renault Sport (from 2005 to 2015).

History

Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Donington Park in 2007.

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, founded by Jaime Alguersuari Tortajada. 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.

At the end of July 2015, Renault Sport announced it would be withdrawing its backing to the Formula Renault 3.5 from 2016 onwards, handing the control of the series to co-organiser RPM. However, Renault Sport also said it would continue the World Series by Renault with the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup.[3]

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 adopted a new chassis, the Dallara T12, powered by a 3.4 litre V8 engine 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, a Drag Reduction System is used, which operates in a similar way to the one in use in Formula One.[4]

Champions

World Series by Nissan

Season Series Name Champion Team Champion
1998 Open Fortuna by Nissan Spain Marc Gené Spain Campos Motorsport
1999 Euro Open MoviStar by Nissan Spain Fernando Alonso Spain Campos Motorsport
2000 Open Telefónica by Nissan Spain Antonio García Spain Campos Motorsport
2001 Open Telefónica by Nissan France Franck Montagny Italy Vergani Racing
2002 Telefónica World Series Brazil Ricardo Zonta Spain Racing Engineering
2003 Superfund World Series France Franck Montagny France Gabord Competición
2004 World Series by Nissan Finland Heikki Kovalainen Spain Pons Racing

NOTE – 1998–2001, mainly Spanish-based series (also known as Formula Nissan) with 2.0L engine.
NOTE – 2002–2004, international series with V6 engine.

World Series Lights

Season Champion Team Champion
2002 Spain Santiago Porteiro Spain Meycom
2003 Argentina Juan Cruz Álvarez Spain Meycom
2004 Serbia and Montenegro Miloš Pavlović Italy Vergani Racing

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Season Champion Team Champion Rookie of the year
2005 Poland Robert Kubica Spain Epsilon Euskadi not awarded
2006 Sweden Alx Danielsson Austria Interwetten.com
2007 Portugal Álvaro Parente France Tech 1 Racing Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
2008 Netherlands Giedo van der Garde France Tech 1 Racing France Charles Pic
2009 Belgium Bertrand Baguette Portugal International DracoRacing United Kingdom Oliver Turvey
2010 Russia Mikhail Aleshin France Tech 1 Racing Australia Daniel Ricciardo
2011 Canada Robert Wickens United Kingdom Carlin United States Alexander Rossi
2012 Netherlands Robin Frijns France Tech 1 Racing Netherlands Robin Frijns
2013 Denmark Kevin Magnussen France DAMS Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne
2014 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. France DAMS France Pierre Gasly
2015 United Kingdom Oliver Rowland United Kingdom Fortec Motorsports Netherlands Nyck de Vries

Notable drivers

Formula One drivers in the future and/or past
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.

See also

References

External links

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