Donington Park in Leicestershire hosts the opening rounds of the 2005 Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin this weekend, 9th/10th April, giving British race fans a golden opportunity to see the Formula One stars of the future in action.

Up to now a total of 27 drivers have registered to take part in the championship, with nine nationalities represented, and with any one of at least 10 drivers in with a realistic chance of title glory, everything’s in place for one of the best seasons in years.

Reigning champion team Fortec Motorsport fields, as ever, a four-car line-up as the Daventry outfit attempts to retain both driver and entrant titles, having dominated the 2004 season en route to a crushing championship victory for Mike Conway.

With Conway having graduated to the British Formula 3 Championship, former team-mate Stuart Hall (Halstead, Essex) will be hoping to follow in his wheel-tracks and after winning the Winter Championship last November he certainly has what it takes.

Category debutant Sebastian Hohenthal has been red-hot in official pre-season testing, underlining his status as one of the ones to watch in 2005, and the Swede will be joined by Dutchman Yelmer Buurman and Formula BMW convert James Sutton (New Barnet, Hertfordshire).

Sheffield-based Manor Motorsport also fields a quartet of cars with Formula Renault UK race-winner Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) leading the attack along with Irishman Patrick Hogan (Killiney, Co.Dublin).

Venezuelan Rodolfo Gonzalez (Attleborough, Norfolk) reunites with Manor this season, having made his category debut with the team in the 2003 Winter Championship, while McLaren International-backed Chinese driver Cheng Congfu (Oxford) also returns.

Reigning Graduate Cup Champion Sean McIntosh remains with Team Firstair this season, the Canadian in with a tremendous chance of winning the full Formula Renault UK crown, and will be joined at the Middlesex outfit by Frenchman Jean-Robert Niogret – the latter a protégé of touring car ace Yvan Muller.

Hathersage-based team Hillspeed contests the 2005 series as a two-car outfit, with teenage driver Josh Weber (Tiverton, Devon) returning to the team he debuted with in 2003 to partner Jamie Morrow (Walton-on-Thames, Surrey).

Team JLR features a strong line-up of drivers this year, the Batley-based concern welcoming back category race-winner Stephen Simpson (Enfield, Middlesex) and Turkish driver Jason Tahinci (Frampton Cotterell, Bristol). The duo will be joined by inexperienced Formula Renault UK competitor Jody Firth (Wakefield, West Yorkshire) and 2003 UK Formula Ford Champion Tom Kimber-Smith (Wokingham, Berkshire).

A brace of Formula Renault UK teams will provide the Donington Park fans with some local interest, Bardon-based Team AKA and Loughborough’s Scorpio Motorsport fielding a total of six cars between them.

AKA, which is managed by British GT driver and former ELF Renault Clio Cup racer Andrew Kirkaldy, has expanded to run four cars in this season’s championship with teen sensation James Jakes (Leeds) to be joined by Swedish ace Alex Storckenfeldt.

Storckenfeldt, who took a maiden race victory at Silverstone last year when driving for Mark Burdett Motorsport, is one of the true title favourites this season and will be joined by the inexperienced pairing of Chris Dent (Merryoaks, Durham) and Irishman Emmet Queenan, the latter the reigning Formula Ireland Champion.

Scorpio Motorsport, meanwhile, makes a welcome reappearance in the full Formula Renault UK series with reigning T-Car Champion Will Bratt (Adderbury, Oxon) teaming up with Welshman Peter Rees (Pangbourne, Berkshire).

Bratt is one of just three drivers eligible to score points in the B4 Group Graduate Cup this season, the championship within a championship for young, inexperienced Formula Renault UK competitors. Welch Motorsport’s Jeremy Metcalfe (Fleet, Hampshire) and Motaworld Racing’s Dutchman Dave van den Heuvel also meet the necessary criteria to battle for the Graduate Cup honours in 2005.

Hampshire outfit Welch Motorsport also fields a second car for series regular Daniel Welch (Fleet, Hampshire) while Skegness-based team Mark Burdett Motorsport gives former Italian Formula Renault runner Bradley Ellis (Croydon, Surrey) his competitive UK debut.

Last, but certainly not least, is RSR Engineering. The Attleborough-based team makes its Formula Renault UK debut this season and will run impressive young prospect Matt Shawyer (Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire) for his first season of slicks and wings action.

The Formula Renault UK competitors take part in an official test at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire today, Friday, 1st April, with pre-race testing at Donington scheduled to take place a week from now on Friday, 8th April.

Qualifying for Formula Renault UK takes place over two 20-minute sessions, the first determining the grid for round one and the second making up the starting order for the second of the weekend’s races.

Therefore, the first qualifying session at Donington will take place at 10.35 on Saturday, 9th April, with the second scheduled to commence at 15.10. Round one of the 2005 season will take place at 09.50 on Sunday, 10th April, with round two set to get underway at 15.35 – and both races will be broadcast live on Motors TV, channel 413 on the Sky Digital platform.

For all the latest Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin news visit the official Renault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.uk built by Racecar