The race for €500,000 is launched

The six days of collective tests saw the drivers break the Circuit Le Mans Bugatti, Motorland Aragón and Circuito de Jerez track records. With eight different men atop the time sheet, it will be an intense battle to succeed Nyck de Vries and claim the €500,000 sponsorship to move on to the next level.

Runner-up to the Dutchman, Dennis Olsen (Manor MP Motorsport), and his new team were discreet during the off-season but are among the favourites. However, the competition is stout, beginning with 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC champion, Ben Barnicoat (Fortec Motorsports), who is also a McLaren and Racing Steps Foundation protégé.

Defending team champion, Koiranen GP enters a trio composed of Formula Renault 1.6 NEC Junior title winner Anton De Pasquale, 2013 BRDC F4 champion Jake Hughes, and Jack Aitken. Victorious at Budapest last year, the British-Korean driver is already the leader in the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS after sharing top honours at Imola with Anthoine Hubert (Tech 1 Racing) on April 11 and 12.

The Frenchman returns in order to validate the hopes placed on him, as are Callan O’Keeffe (Fortec Motorsports), Simon Gachet (Tech 1 Racing), James Allen (ARTA Engineering) as well as Kevin Jörg (Josef Kaufmann Racing), who finished on the podium at Alcañiz in 2014.

Other drivers also want to mix it up with the leaders. Regularly among the quickest during the collective tests, Ukyo Sasahara (ART Junior Team) and Louis Delétraz (Josef Kaufmann Racing), second in the 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, both scored a win at Monza in the opening round of the NEC last weekend.

With six titles in the category, JD Motorsport makes its return with Thiago Vivacqua and Matevos Isaakyan, third in the 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS. Two drivers to follow in Spain, as well as Martin Kodrić (Fortec Motorsports), Luke Chudleigh (Fortec Motorsports), Darius Oskoui (ART Junior Team), Hugo de Sadeleer (Tech 1 Racing), Amaury Richard (ARTA Engineering), Harrison Scott (AVF), Iñigo Bikuña (AVF), Charlie Eastwood (Strakka Racing), Thiago Vivacqua (JD Motorsport), Ignazio D’Agosto (Manor MP Motorsport) and defending French F4 champion Lasse Sørensen (Manor MP Motorsport).

Race 1: Saturday 25 April at 12:40 CET Race 2: Saturday 25 April at 16:20 CET Race 3: Sunday 26 April at 12:15 CET

The two Formula Renault 3.5 Series races will be aired live on Eurosport International, Eurosport UK and Eurosport France (Eurosport 2 on Saturday). The Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 will be available on a delayed basis on Eurosport 2. The entire meeting will be broadcast live on the Eurosport Player; the live-timing will be available on the worldseriesbyrenault.com site.

“It is a tradition to debut the World Series by Renault at Motorland Aragón”, details Jean-Pascal Dauce, Director of Competition for Renault Sport Technologies.

“Since our first visit in 2009, the show has always lived up to expectations on a track offering a true challenge with its elevation changes, heavy braking zones, its blind string of corners and interminable pit straight. We look forward to seeing the impact of the new rules in Formula Renault 3.5 Series, especially with the low downforce aerodynamic configuration on the rear wing for the Saturday race. And this weekend will also be remembered with for the first time, three Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 races!”