Fans heading to Silverstone this weekend for the World Series by Renault meeting can look forward to seeing bumper grids in the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship and the ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin races. With organisers seeing a late boost in entries, there will be plenty of new faces taking to the track alongside the series regulars.
There will at least six new drivers on the grid for Rounds 17 and 18 of the Formula Renault UK championship. First up is Yann Sainpy da Silva Cunha, with the Brazilian linking up with front-running outfit CRS Racing for his series debut. Meanwhile at rival team Fortec Motorsport, series regular David McDonald will be missing the weekend and is expected to be replaced by 17 year old British debutant Jack Harvey, who recently finished second in the 2010 Formula BMW Europe championship.
The other new drivers for the weekend come from the Eurocup 2.0 series, which is also featuring on the festival package. The busy drivers will be Italian Giovanni Venturini and Spaniard Alex Riberas, who both drive for the Epsilon Euskadi team, as well as Tech 1 Racing trio, Frenchmen Arthur Pic and Hugo Valente and Fin Aaro Vainio.
In the Clio Cup, two drivers are making their annual return to the series for the World Series meeting. Both Mardi Gras Motorsport's Stefan Hodgetts and APO Sport's Alex Osborne are making their first appearance in the series since the corresponding event last season, with Hodgetts looking to repeat his double victory from last time.
Also returning to the series is double champion Paul Rivett, who had made a couple of appearances for the Stancombe Vehicle Engineering so far this season. The weekend also sees a return for many of the series regulars, who have missed previous rounds for various reasons. First is Westbourne Motorsport's Patrick Collins, who rejoins after the birth of his son, while Robert Gaffney returns with new team Meridian Motorsport. Team Pyro also see the return of Jack Goff and Jeff Smith to their team, with Smith in particular looking to impress after making his British Touring Car Championship debut last time out at Knockhill.
Championship Promoter Simon North commented: “It's great to have so many new faces joining us for World Series by Renault which once again promises to be a fantastic weekend of racing and entertainment for the whole family.”
Fans are expected to be out in force for the World Series by Renault meeting, with tickets completely free for the motorsport festival, which looks to provide action on track, with a variety of top international and national racing, as well as off track, with all sorts of family entertainment. Last season saw 135,000 fans attending the two-day festival, the largest crowd for a UK motorsport event behind the British Grand Prix.
