At least 30 cars are expected to line up on the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin grid this year and with six full weeks still remaining until the start of the season, hopes are high of a close to capacity series in 2005.
Formula Renault UK, which has fielded the biggest grids of any series on the British Touring Car Championship’s TOCA Tour in recent years, looks set for another fantastic season and a hard fought title duel between many top names.
Reigning champion team Fortec Motorsport will run four cars, having already agreed deals with 2004 Winter Champion Stuart Hall (Halstead, Essex), Dutch teenager Yelmer Buurman, Formula BMW UK graduate James Sutton (New Barnet, Hertfordshire) and highly-rated Swede Sebastian Hohenthal.
Multiple-title winning outfit Manor Motorsport will definitely run four cars with three drivers so far confirmed. Expected championship front-runner, Irishman Patrick Hogan, will be joined by Formula Renault UK race-winner Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) and McLaren International-backed Chinese driver Cheng Congfu.
Team Firstair will run two cars once again, the outfit continuing its partnership with Canadian sensation and current ‘Graduate Cup’ Champion Sean McIntosh and also Frenchman Jean-Robert Niogret.
Tom Kimber-Smith (Wokingham, Berkshire), 2003 UK Formula Ford Champion, will renew his rivalry with fellow former T-Car competitor Stuart Hall – both drivers having been crowned joint-champion of the BRSCC series in 2000.
Kimber-Smith has signed a deal with Team JLR to return to Formula Renault UK, after a season in the F3 Euroseries, and he’ll be joined by category race-winner Stephen Simpson (Enfield, Middlesex) and Turkish driver Jason Tahinci (Bath, Avon) in a line-up expected to be four-strong before the start of the season.
Hillspeed will contest the championship with Josh Weber (Tiverton, Devon) and Jamie Morrow (Henley-on-Thames, Oxon) while Scorpio Motorsport also fields two cars, one for reigning T-Car Champion Will Bratt (Adderbury, Oxon) and another for Welshman Peter Rees (Pangbourne, Berkshire).
Team AKA is expecting to field a four-car assault on the championship, led by teenage star James Jakes (Cullingworth, West Yorkshire) and Swedish sensation Alex Storckenfeldt, both of whom are true championship prospects. In addition, Motaworld Racing will run two cars, one for former Dutch Formula Renault 1600 competitor Dave van den Heuvel and another for an as-yet unnamed driver.
Hampshire team Welch Motorsport has confirmed it will run two cars this year for Fleet-based pairing Daniel Welch, an experienced Formula Renault UK competitor, and former British Championship Karting Formula A category front-runner Jeremy Metcalfe, the latter making his championship debut.
Dean Stirling (Shamley Green, Surrey), who has formerly competed in the winter series with Team Nasamax, is also expected to race while reigning Formula Ford Champion team Nexa Racing is set to field a brace of cars in its debut season in Formula Renault UK.
Race-winning outfit Mark Burdett Motorsport, meanwhile, is still negotiating with several drivers and is confident of running a three-car operation in Formula Renault UK this season.
EXPECTED REGISTRATIONS:
2005 FORMULA RENAULT UK CHAMPIONSHIP with Michelin
Driver (NAT) - Lives - Entrant
Stuart Hall (GBR) - Halstead, Essex - Fortec Motorsport
Yelmer Buurman (NED) - Ubbergen, Netherlands - Fortec Motorsport
James Sutton (GBR) - New Barnet, Hertfordshire - Fortec Motorsport
Sebastian Hohenthal (SWE) - Mora, Sweden - Fortec Motorsport
Patrick Hogan (IRL) - Ireland - Manor Motorsport
Oliver Jarvis (GBR) - Burwell, Cambridgeshire - Manor Motorsport
Cheng Congfu (CHN) - Beijing, China - Manor Motorsport
TBA - TBA - Manor Motorsport
Sean McIntosh (CAN) - Coquitlam, Canada - Team Firstair
Jean-Robert Niogret (FRA) - France - Team Firstair
Stephen Simpson (GBR) - Enfield, Middlesex - Team JLR
Tom Kimber-Smith (GBR) - Wokingham, Berkshire - Team JLR
Jason Tahinci (TUR) - Bath, Avon - Team JLR
TBA - TBA - Team JLR
Josh Weber (GBR) - Tiverton, Devon - Hillspeed
Jamie Morrow (GBR) - Henley-on-Thames, Oxon - Hillspeed
Will Bratt (GBR) - Adderbury, Oxon - Scorpio Motorsport
Peter Rees (GBR) - Pangbourne, Berkshire - Scorpio Motorsport
James Jakes (GBR) - Cullingworth, West Yorkshire - Team AKA
Alex Storckenfeldt (SWE) - Ljungskile, Sweden - Team AKA
TBA - TBA - Team AKA
TBA - TBA - Team AKA
Dave van den Heuvel (NED) - Netherlands - Motaworld Racing
TBA - TBA - Motaworld Racing
Daniel Welch (GBR) - Fleet, Hampshire - Welch Motorsport
Jeremy Metcalfe (GBR) - Fleet, Hampshire - Welch Motorsport
TBA - TBA - Nexa Racing
TBA - TBA - Nexa Racing
Dean Stirling (CAN) - Shamley Green, Surrey - Team Nasamax
TBA - TBA - Mark Burdett Motorsport
TBA - TBA - Mark Burdett Motorsport
TBA - TBA - Mark Burdett Motorsport
For all the latest Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin news visit the officialRenault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.uk built by Racecar
