Renault and the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) have announced that the Formula Renault UK 1.6 Championship will make its debut in 2014.
The new championship will be aimed at teenage racers, with an upper age limit of nineteen. The first campaign will consist of a maximum eight event season comprising eighteen to twenty races.
The series is expected to run alongside its sister Protyre Formula Renault Championship for the bulk of the season, though there are hopes for it to run as a guest support category on some of the country’s highest profile meetings.
The category has been prominent in European single-seater racing, with the Signatech chassis having raced in the Formula Renault 1.6 NEC and Nordic series, plus the French Auto Sport Academy series.
“We’re thrilled to announce the birth of the Formula Renault UK 1.6 Championship,” said championship manager Simon North. “it’s the perfect category to bridge the gap which currently exists in Britain between karting and the higher levels of junior single-seater racing, such as Formula Renault 2.0.
“Formula Renault 1.6 is an inexpensive first step for drivers coming out of karting to take and, most importantly, we didn’t want to see drivers as young as 16 racing having to develop a brand new car, so a proven chassis was the only option for Renaultsport and the BARC.”
The championship is aimed with a focus on education as well as competition meaning drivers joining the series will be required to sign-up to a special fitness programme monitored by the MSA Academy coaches. There will also be a break planned during the season for the GCSE school examination period.
Series organisers are hoping the new car will make its UK racing debut later this year, with plans to run an ‘Autumn Trophy’ event at Rockingham in November to enable teams and drivers to try out the new car.
