Top teams back new FR3.5 regime

Leading Formula Renault 3.5 teams have pledged their support to the category ahead of a meeting to gauge who will commit to the reconstituted series for 2016.

Renault Sport decided in July to reduce its involvement to a technical partnership, and hand the management, property and promotional responsibilities to the Barcelona-based RPM concern.

RPM boss Jaime Alguersuari, who founded the series' World Series by Nissan forerunner, outlined details of its plans at Silverstone last week and indicated that a 2016 team entry list would likely be defined before the Le Mans meeting at the end of September. Jamie Dye, managing director of current championship leader Fortec, said RPM had the teams' confidence.

"I was very positive about what Jamie Alguersuari had to say," said Dye. "I think everyone hoped Jaime would take it over.

"We are looking at signing drivers up for testing, with a view to racing next year, so I think it will be OK. There is no shame in World Series supporting a Blancpain, a WEC or a World Touring Car event. We'll be there."

Although Alguersuari revealed a new car could be introduced within the next three years, Dye had no concern with the category continuing with the current Dallara-Gibson. In qualifying at Silverstone last week, Matthieu Vaxiviere's FR3.5 pole position was 0.121s quicker than Sergey Sirotkin's pole from the 2015 Silverstone GP2 meeting.

"The car is definitely good enough to continue with, and it's reliable now," continued Dye. "Let's assume that we are going over to this big [18-inch] Michelin wheel before too long, so that's also a bit quicker, and it should move us a bit closer to GP2 as we were in about 2012."

Simon Abadie, boss of multiple championship winning team Tech 1 Racing, was also convinced there was a place in the market for FR3.5.

"Tech 1 wants to continue," he said. "It is very important for Tech 1 to run with a big single-seater. We think there is a market for World Series.

"Next year, European Formula 3 will be between 700,000 and 800,000 euros. After that, if you don't have 1.5 million euros to go into GP2 or Formula 2, where are drivers going to go?

"Maybe the money will be more difficult [to raise for FR3.5], but we will see. The costs in FR3.5 are much less than GP2, for me, I'm much less than 900,000 euros. Renault has made a big effort to cut costs, as have all the teams.

"Maybe a top Formula 3 drive is more expensive. The question now is, are we sure GP2 will be F2?"

Originally on Autosport.com