Silverstone Saturday 5th September 2015
Starting at Donington in the mid 00's and then moving to Silverstone in 2008 the "Renault Weekend" was always a highlight in the calendar. Free tickets were given away in their thousands and huge crowds turned up every year. Featuring the core Renault championships of Formula Renault 3.5, Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and a Megane based saloon series the UK saw a round each year until 2011.
After a 3 year hiatus the Renault weekend was back . No free tickets this time around though but a very reasonable £10 on the gate each day and a weekend ticket for £12 if bought in advance. The enormous crowds of yesteryear were not in evidence on Saturday and a crowd figure of 20,000 was quoted for the weekend which would appear to be that 19,500 turned up on Sunday!
I have no problem with small crowds however and at 9.00am on Saturday morning I was the only spectator in evidence at Stowe for the qualifying session for the 3.5 cars. Quite why the main category of the weekend was out at such an early hour is a mystery but, after a brief red-flag, an entertaining session took place. The 3.5 series cars are superb machines with 530 bhp V8 Zytek engines in a Dallara chassis. Cypriot Tio Ellinas took pole and would go on to dominate the 40 minute race in the afternoon. The battle for positions behind him though provided the hardy spectators with a superb race with more overtaking seen at Club corner than I've seen in many a year, especially for large single-seaters! Championship leader, Brit Oliver Rowland, eventually making 2nd place his own with his main title rival Matthieu Vaxivierre in 3rd. This series has seen some very impressive names graduate to better things over the last 10 years but faces an uncertain future as Renault have withdrawn backing for it from 2016. It is poised to carry on under new management but one wonders how strong it will remain. With the FIA determined to carve an "official" pathway to F1 from Karting upwards, the series will struggle to brand itself outside the F4,F3,GP3,GP2 ladder.
Renault are carrying on with supporting the 2.0 Eurocup next year and with 28 cars entered at Silverstone, this championship should still thrive in a competitive market. There were 2 races on Saturday, the first of which saw 2 enormous accidents on the first lap. At Becketts Jehan Daruvala speared off the track at high speed and ended up perched on top of the tyre wall. Then as the field entered Club (mostly 3 abreast!) the Safety Car boards came out and with the cars at the head of the pack slowing up, Ferdinand Habsburg slammed into the rear of Ben Barnicoat and was launched skyward on the exit of Club. After a delay the restart saw a win for Jack Aitken with days second race being won by Kevin Jorg. Overtaking in 2.0 Renault has never been that easy but the wide open spaces of Silverstone saw some good racing throughout the field. Watching from Luffield for the second race, yet another large shunt was witnessed when Harrison Scott rode up and over the rear of Ben Barnicoat into Broooklands and into the tyre wall. With such a competitive field there was always going to be a few incidents so they aren't surprising when they happen!
The Renault Sport Trophy is new for 2015 with 13 cars entered for Silverstone. A very smart looking car with a V6 3.8ltr. Turbo engine they certainly looked the part but a 70 minute 2-driver race on Saturday afternoon wasn't the most entertaining thing I've ever seen. Won by Luciano Bacheta/Niccolo Nalio, one hopes that the 2 x 25 minute races for single drivers on Sunday was better!
I enjoyed the day at Silverstone. As this will probably be the last ever Renault promoted weekend in the UK I'm glad I was there to witness it. The weather was the days true low point though as a very cold wind blew all day which meant an early airing for winter hats and gloves...Despite knowing I was going only on the Saturday I purchased a Weekend ticket for some reason which cost £12. A free A5 size programme was given away at the gate which was very basic but did at least provide entries and information. Also, somewhat bizarrely, I came away from Silverstone with a Sam Lowes giant foam hand....a remnant from the previous weeks Moto GP which I discovered near the grandstands at Stowe corner in remarkably good condition!!
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