Giedo van der Garde 2008 WSBR Silverstone

The 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series was the fourth Formula Renault 3.5 Series season. It began on 26 April in

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and finished on 19 October in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

after 17 races.

Regulation Changes

Technical

After a three-year cycle, the current Formula Renault 3.5 chassis was replaced by a brand new car built by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

racecar constructor

Dallara Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' M ...

. The new car featured

flex-fuel A flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) or dual-fuel vehicle (colloquially called a flex-fuel vehicle) is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol o ...

technology and could be powered by either premium unleaded

petrol Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...

or E85

bioethanol Ethanol fuel is fuel containing ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol as found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. Several common ethanol fuel mixtures are in use a ...

, which was a first for this level of

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. The

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

V6 engine, prepared by French company Solution F, also saw its power increased from to . The car also featured a new carbon bodyshell, as well as a new shaped front wing, hollowed sidepods and multiple side deflectors designed to improve aerodynamic performance. However, several areas of the car, including the gearbox, rear suspension and carbon brakes, remained the same in order to keep costs under control. The new car made its first public appearance on 21 September at the

Magny-Cours Magny-Cours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Nièvre Departments of France, department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous Motorsport#Motor racing, motor racing circuit (whose name is o ...

round of the 2007 season, with development driver

Andy Soucek Andy Christian Soucek (; born 14 June 1985) is a Spanish- Austrian professional racing driver. Career Soucek was born in Madrid, Spain. His father is an Austrian of Czech descent and his mother is French. He holds dual Austrian and Spanish nati ...

demonstrating the car at the final round of the series in

.'08 World Series car hits track. ''Autosport Magazine'', Vol. 190, No. 5, pp. 13, Haymarket Publications. 1 November 2007.

Sporting

In a change from recent years, only 26 cars (thirteen two-car teams) were allowed into the 2008 championship. The World Series by Renault organising committee announced twelve of the thirteen teams on 5 October 2007, with newcomers Ultimate Signature confirmed as the final entrant on 12 October 2007. The 2008 season also saw the introduction of a new qualifying system to the FR3.5 Series. * The 26 cars will be split into two equal groups, with each having a 20-minute session * The Top 6 drivers in each group (12 in total) will go forward to a 15-minute 'Super Pole' session * The grid for Race one is decided by reversing the finishing order of the Top 8 drivers in Super Pole. They are followed by the last four in Super Pole (in finishing order) and the remaining 14 drivers in the order they finished qualifying * For Race two, the Top 8 drivers from Super Pole line up in the order they finished the session, with the rest of the field decided by the finishing order of Race one

Teams and drivers

= Series rookie for 2008

Race calendar and results

The calendar for the 2008 season was confirmed by

Renault Sport Renault Sport () or Renaultsport, was a motorsport, performance and special vehicles division for Renault-badged cars and later a sub-badge of Renault cars managed by Automobiles Alpine, Alpine. The first Renault Sport was officially established ...

on 9 January 2008. Seven rounds formed meetings of the 2008 World Series by Renault season, with additional rounds supporting the Monza 1000km and

Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix () is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the wo ...

Season results

* Points for both championships were awarded as follows: The maximum number of points a driver could earn each weekend (except Monaco) was 31 and the maximum number for a team was 55.

Drivers' Championship

* Polesitter for feature race in bold * Driver in ''italics'' has been awarded two points for fastest lap * † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Teams' Championship

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Season Formula Renault 3.5 Series World Series Formula V8 3.5 seasons 2008 in European sport Renault 3.5