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

[Coach Ep]

The car certainly has the looks:





Now the fun starts when someone is bringing one of these cars to VLN, Supercar Challenge, Britcar or something similar!

[hondafan37]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

The car certainly has the looks:





Now the fun starts when someone is bringing one of these cars to VLN, Supercar Challenge, Britcar or something similar!

There are 2 of this cars in A6 Class (GT3) in the entry list of the next 24 hours of Dubai.
http://f.cl.ly/items/0W1o3u260s0C1J1...BAI%202016.pdf

[Coach Ep]

Great, that race is just around the corner from now!

[hondafan37]

Interview with Jean-Pascal Dauce, director of Renault Sport.
There is the possibility to see the car in SuperGT GT300 and in the 24 hours of Nurburgring.
http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/ent...renault-sport/

[Coach Ep]

It would also make a great addition to Pirelli World Challenge imo, too bad Renault is not on the US market.

[FIRE]

What do these cars cost?

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by hondafan37

Interview with Jean-Pascal Dauce, director of Renault Sport.
There is the possibility to see the car in SuperGT GT300 and in the 24 hours of Nurburgring.
http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/ent...renault-sport/

It would be nice if Renault have an official works team akin to Nissan GT Academy team competing around the world.

But hey, let's find out how this support series fare!

[TheDude]

Originally Posted by FIRE

What do these cars cost?

Around 280000£

[hondafan37]

This car is 3 seconds faster than the LMGTE and 5.5 faster than the GT3 in Spa Francorchamps.
http://d2uv4t0ox1pknx.cloudfront.net...ve_test-37.pdf
http://www.fiawec.com/races/6-hours-...nd-chrono.html
http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/r...ter_race_id=29

[MagVanisher]

So with the numbers, it'll take lots of nerfing for the RS.01 if that car would compete in GT3 class, I presume.