Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography
The Protyre Formula Renault BARC Series organisers have today announced that they have come to an agreement with the teams and the British Automobile Racing Club to create a three event ‘Renault GP Cup’, which will be a standalone event in the final three events of the 2012 Certina Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship, to help bolster the grid numbers in the national series.
The numbers for the Formula Renault BARC series are looking strong ahead of the 2012 campaign, Championship Promoter Simon North and Ian Watson from the BARC have worked together to come up with a solution which assists Formula Renault UK.
Having previously announced ‘Formula Renault Junior’, the Renault GP Cup is the replacement. It will still utilise the Tatuus FR 2.0 Cars which are used in the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Series, but with a different engine restrictor.
With the Renault GP Cup taking place during the final three events of the Formula Renault UK Championship season, the grids are expected to be bolstered by ten to twelve cars and it avoids the testing bands in place for the Formula Renault BARC drivers at specific circuits.
The creation of the Renault GP Cup has gone down well with the Formula Renault BARC teams, as it’ll give the teams’ and drivers’ a chance to race on a bigger stage at three of the most popular venues in the UK – including two with ITV coverage likely.
2008 and 2009 Formula Renault BARC Champions Scorpio Motorsport and their Team Principal Jon Pettit said about the plans: “I like the idea of the Renault GP Cup; it gives us and our drivers a bigger stage to race on and it will also help to continue raising the profile of the BARC championship.
“We’ll definitely be suggesting to our guys that they do this, it can only be good experience for them but it’s also at a more achievable budget. Hopefully, this will put a bit of fire back into the UK series as well during the last three events of the season and bring some positivity to that side of things.”
Richard Ollerenshaw, Team Principal of 2010 Champions Hillspeed added: “What has been put forward by the BARC now with the Renault GP Cup has the benefits of the Junior class idea but in a programme the BARC drivers can afford at an acceptable budget level. We definitely welcome this as a good step forward and support it wholeheartedly.”
“It got to the point where not enough people wanted the Junior class in Formula Renault UK”, added MGR Motorsport team principal Mark Godwin, “The Renault GP Cup is a great idea though, it all depends how popular it is with the drivers but I think we should get quite a few wanting to do it.
“Formula Renault BARC is good value for money; there aren’t many other options out there for drivers to race in a great car, and in such a great championship, for such a good budget. For the drivers who don’t have the money to race in Formula Renault UK, this is a very good compromise.”
The first of the three Renault GP Cup events takes place at Silverstone over the 8/9 September, when the Certina Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship supports the British Formula 3 series before rejoining the British Touring Car Package for events at Rockingham over the 22/23 September and at Brands Hatch, on the Grand Prix circuit over the 20/21 October.
Drivers who had already registered for the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship will be eligible to enter their ‘BARC’ specification FR2.0 cars.
The Renault GP Cup is a standalone event and has no effect on the outright Formula Renault BARC Championship battle, which will still be in progress when the Silverstone GP and Rockingham race events take place.
“We’ve been working very closely with the BARC and SRO, who have been in touch with the Formula Renault UK teams, to arrive at a solution to help improve their grids and the Renault GP Cup is the perfect answer”, said Protyre Formula Renault BARC promoter Simon North, “Drivers will only be able to enter the Cup by being registered for the BARC Championship, we envisage it could bring as many as 12 more drivers onto the UK grid.
“It’s not in anyone’s interest for the numbers in Formula Renault UK to be low and we’re keen to proactively work with the BARC to help the current situation. That couldn’t be at the expense of altering the low-cost element which continues to see Protyre Formula Renault BARC thrive. Our teams are satisfied the Renault GP Cup is the best solution.”
The Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship gets underway at Snetterton, Norfolk over the 7/8 April and concludes at Silverstone, Northamptonshire over the 6/7 October.
