Renault Sport Technologies has completed the testing of its new R.S. 01 race car – destined to race on the bill of the World Series by Renault – ahead of the first customer deliveries later this month.
The car’s first shakedown took place last summer at the Autodromo di Franciacorta near Brescia. Italy. The development program proper then began at the Ricardo Tormo track in Valencia and visited Barcelona-Catalunya, Monza, Jerez, Motorland Aragón and the Circuito de Navarra before concluding back in Italy at the Autodromo di Vallelunga. Laptimes are said to be between DTM and GT3 cars.
During 17 days of testing, the Renault Sport R.S. 01 covered a total of 7,475km in all conditions. Renault says that drivers with varied and complementary backgrounds took their turns at the wheel of Renault Sport’s latest creation. Among them were Alexandre Prémat, Andy Soucek, Mirko Bortolotti, Anthony Beltoise, Nick Castburg and Laurent Hurgon as well as drivers from endurance racing and Formula 1.
Having met or surpassed its development objectives, the development team based at Les Ulis, southwest of Paris, then studied ways to reduce front brake wear with the goal of ensuring that competitors will need just one set of discs per season.
“We are fully satisfied with all the work done during the development of the Renault Sport R.S. 01”, says Christophe Chapelain, technical competition manager of Renault Sport Technologies. “We still have some work to do on the brakes in order to achieve the objective of one set of discs per year even if their efficiency and endurance have impressed all the drivers. It is thanks to the efforts of our men and our partners, because we have exceeded our specification charts in all respects in order for the Renault Sport R.S. 01 to have operating costs that are very competitive on the market.”