Formula Renault Eurocup

Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits.

Formula Renault Eurocup
CategoryFormula Renault 2.0 (1991–2018)
Regional Formula 3 (2019–2020)
Inaugural season1991
Folded2020
ConstructorsRenault[1]
Engine suppliersRenault
Tyre suppliersHankook[2]
Last Drivers' championFrance Victor Martins
Last Teams' championFrance ART Grand Prix
Official websitewww.renaultsport.com

It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault Sport offered a prize of €500,000 to the winner of the Eurocup until 2015. Following the 2020 season, the Formula Renault Eurocup merged with the Formula Regional European Championship due to COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

History

edit

The series was established in 1991, as the "Rencontres Internationales de Formule Renault", before switching to the "Eurocup Formula Renault" name in 1993.

In 2000, renamed to Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 since 2005 used up to now, excludes the 2003 season named Formula Renault 2000 Masters.

While a support series of the Formula Renault 3.5 many drivers stepped up to the senior category, for example the 2006 champion Filipe Albuquerque, fourth-place finisher Bertrand Baguette and 13th-place finisher Xavier Maassen being the first to do so that on the full-time basis for the 2007 season. 2007 champion Brendon Hartley did not follow suit however, and instead moved firstly to British Formula Three Championship. Meanwhile, Charles Pic and Alexandre Marsoin joined FR 3.5 for the 2008. 2008 champion Valtteri Bottas moved to the Formula 3 Euro Series, and only Anton Nebylitskiy who was placed 20th, made his debut in FR 3.5 in 2009. 2009 was the first season when the champion received money to graduate to FR 3.5 and Albert Costa used this opportunity. He was joined in the 2010 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season by sixth-place finisher Nathanaël Berthon. Like Costa, 2010 champion Kevin Korjus and his rivals Arthur Pic, Daniël de Jong and André Negrão moved to FR 3.5 in 2011. 2011 champion Robin Frijns not only graduated to FR 3.5 in 2012, he also became the first driver, who won both Eurocup and FR 3.5 Series consecutively. Other 2011 Eurocup graduates, who moved to FR 3.5 were Will Stevens and Vittorio Ghirelli. 2012 champion Stoffel Vandoorne and his contender Norman Nato headed to FR 3.5 in 2013. Pierre Gasly and Oliver Rowland, who fought till the last race for the 2013 Eurocup title, both graduated to FR 3.5 in 2014. They was joined by Luca Ghiotto, Matthieu Vaxivière and Roman Mavlanov. Nyck de Vries dominated the 2014 championship and moved to FR 3.5 in 2015. Egor Orudzhev, Aurélien Panis and Gustav Malja moved to Formula Renault 3.5 as well.

Car specifications

edit
 
Sacha Fenestraz in 2017.

The chassis was built at Alpine's Dieppe plant, a Renault subsidiary. The aerodynamic kit was designed by Tatuus.[1] All Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 cars use the same specifications.[4]

  • Chassis: FR2.0/13. Carbon-fibre bodywork
  • Engine: Renault F4R 832 – 4-cylinder – 16 valve – 1998cc. 210 bhp at 7,500rpm. 220Nm at 5,500rpm
  • Transmission: SADEV seven-speed sequential + reverse gear. XAP electric control gearshift, semi-automatic steering-wheel mounted
  • Front suspension: ZF Race Engineering single damper, two-way adjustable
  • Rear suspension: ZF Race Engineering double damper, two-way adjustable
  • Brakes: Four-piston calipers with 278 x 18 mm steel discs
  • Rims: Aluminium one-piece 9 x 13 (front) and 10 x 13 (rear)
  • Tyres: Michelin 20-54 x 13 (front) and 24-57 x 13 (rear)
  • Length/width/height: 4270 / 1740 / 950mm
  • Front and rear track: 1502 / 1440mm
  • Fuel tank: 50 litres
  • Unloaded weight: 506 kg

Champions

edit

Prior Formula Renault Eurocup

edit
Rencontres Internationales de Formule Renault
Season Champion Team
1991   Jason Plato   Duckhams Van Diemen
1992   Pedro de la Rosa   Racing for Spain
Eurocup Formula Renault
Season Champion Team
1993   Olivier Couvreur   Synergie
1994   James Matthews   Manor Motorsport
1995   Cyrille Sauvage   Mygale
1996   Enrique Bernoldi   Tatuus JD Motorsport
1997   Jeffrey van Hooydonk   Tatuus JD Motorsport
1998   Bruno Besson   Tatuus JD Motorsport
1999   Gianmaria Bruni   JD Motorsport
Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup
Season Champion Team Champion
2000   Felipe Massa   JD Motorsport
2001   Augusto Farfus   Prema Powerteam
2002   Eric Salignon   Graff Racing
2004   Scott Speed   Motopark Academy
Formula Renault 2000 Masters
Season Champion Team Champion
2003   Esteban Guerrieri   JD Motorsport
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Season Champion Team Champion Secondary Class Champion
2005   Kamui Kobayashi   SG Formula not awarded
2006   Filipe Albuquerque   JD Motorsport
2007   Brendon Hartley   Epsilon RedBull J:   Brendon Hartley
2008   Valtteri Bottas   SG Formula J:   Andrea Caldarelli
2009   Albert Costa   Epsilon Euskadi J:   António Félix da Costa
2010   Kevin Korjus   Tech 1 Racing J:   Kevin Korjus
2011   Robin Frijns   Koiranen Motorsport J:   Carlos Sainz Jr.
2012   Stoffel Vandoorne   Josef Kaufmann Racing J:   Daniil Kvyat
2013   Pierre Gasly   Tech 1 Racing J:   Pierre Gasly
2014   Nyck de Vries   Koiranen GP J:   Dennis Olsen
2015   Jack Aitken   Josef Kaufmann Racing R:   Harrison Scott
2016   Lando Norris   Josef Kaufmann Racing R:   Lando Norris

Formula Renault Eurocup

edit
Season Champion Team Champion Secondary Class Champion
2017   Sacha Fenestraz   R-ace GP R:   Max Fewtrell
2018   Max Fewtrell   R-ace GP R:   Christian Lundgaard
2019   Oscar Piastri[a]   R-ace GP R:   Caio Collet
2020   Victor Martins   ART Grand Prix R:   Alex Quinn

Notes

edit
  1. ^ Oscar Piastri is an Australian racing driver, despite being listed as Australian in entry list he raced under British racing license, with British flag raised above the podium and British anthem played after his wins.[5][6]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Technical specifications". Formula Renault 2.0. Renault Sport. Archived from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  2. ^ Allen, Peter (11 December 2018). "Abu Dhabi to host Formula Renault Eurocup finale in 2019". formulascout.com. Formula Scout. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  3. ^ Smith, Luke (31 October 2020). "Formula Regional Europe merges with Renault Eurocup for 2021". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Technical specifications". World Series by Renault. Renault Sport. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  5. ^ "2019 Formule Renault Eurocup - Spa-Francorchamps Race 1 (52:30)". YouTube. Renault Sport. 26 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  6. ^ "2019 Formula Renault Eurocup - Abu Dhabi - Race 1 (1:04:26)". YouTube. Renault Sport. 25 October 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
edit