UK: Series Silverstone preview

BOOST FOR RENAULT SPORT GRID SIZES AHEAD OF WORLD SERIES

Organisers of the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship and the ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin have received a surge of late entries ahead of the World Series by Renault meeting this weekend.

Series regulars in both the one-make categories will be joined by a host of new faces when racing gets underway at the world-famous Silverstone Grand Prix circuit on 18th/19th September.

Formula Renault UK competitors will see no less than six new drivers on the grid for rounds 17 and 18 of the championship beginning with Brazilian Yann Sainpy da Silva Cunha who makes his debut for front-running team CRS Racing.

Eurocup 2.0 drivers, also racing during the action-packed weekend, provide the remainder of the new talent with Italian Giovanni Venturini and Spain's Alex Riberas running with their Epsilon Euskadi outfit while Frenchmen Arthur Pic and Hugo Valente, along with Finnish driver Aaro Vainio, join the field with Tech 1 Racing.

The weekend is also expected to see the Formula Renault UK debut of 17-year-old Lincolnshire racer Jack Harvey driving in place of David McDonald (Ewell) at Fortec Motorsport.

Meanwhile Clio Cup fans can look forward to watching the likes of Mardi Gras Motorsport's Stephen Hodgetts (Redditch) in action returning to the popular saloon-car series after winning both races at last year's event which attracted some 135,000 spectators. Alex Osborne (Northampton) also returns after a 12-month absence from the series with APO Sport together with double champion Paul Rivett (Banstead) racing for Stancombe Vehicle Engineering.

Westbourne Motorsport's Patrick Collins (Spaldwick) also rejoins the series after the birth of his son as does Robert Gaffney (Waltham Abbey) with new team Meridian Motorsport. Team Pyro will be back to full strength with the return of Jack Goff (High Wycombe) and Jeff Smith (Wellingborough) with Jeff looking to impress after his British Touring Car Championship debut earlier this month. Finally, the weekend will also be the first time out for Team Pyro's Dave Newsham (Inverness) since being crowned this year's Clio Cup champion.

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."

World Series by Renault is a free motorsport festival which combines a host of top international and national racing together with off-track family entertainment. Last year a record-breaking 135,000 people attended the two-day extravaganza establishing it as the second largest motor sport event in the UK behind the British Grand Prix.

-source: renault sport uk