2015 Renault Sport Trophy

[WSR Fan]

Thought there might already be a thread for this but I can't see one - I'm not even sure if you class this as a sportscar/GT or a touring car series to be honest

This new championship, the Renault Sport Trophy, kicks off at the end of the month and it's essentially a replacement for the old Eurocup Mégane Trophy, which ended after the 2013 season. The series will support the FR3.5 and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championships at six of the World Series by Renault meetings, with two races per round.

30/31 May: Spa-Francorchamps
13/14 June: Hungaroring
5/6 September: Silverstone
12/13 September: Nurburgring
26/27 September: Le Mans Bugatti
17/18 October: Jerez

The car (which looks ever-so slightly like an Audi TT!) sounds like a pretty decent package:

• Dallara designed and built carbon monocoque chassis, compling to 2014 FIA LMP1 safety standards
• Engine is a 3.8L, V6 twin-turbo prepared by Nismo and derived from the Nissan GT-R
• Engine develops over 500 BHP with a top speed of over 300 km/h (186 mph)
• Features a seven speed sequential gearbox

It will run as a Pro-Am setup, with between 18 and 20 cars expected - Renault Sport seem to be positioning this series as a stepping-stone to championships like the DTM, Super GT, ELMS and WEC. There are some good prizes on offer too - there's prize money for teams and drivers at each round with the Pro champion winning a rookie test with the official Nismo Super GT team in Japan (with a complete driver development program beforehand). The Am champion will get the chance to race in the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours in an LMP2 prototype!

There's a three-day test starting in Valencia tomorrow and confirmed drivers so far include many single-seater converts like Vittorio Ghirelli, Andrea Pizzitola, Luciano Bacheta, David Fumanelli and Steijn Schothorst.

All sounds promising and I'm quite intrigued to see how it pans out this year