Formula Renault AsiaCup

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Formula Renault AsiaCup
Formula Renault AsiaCup.jpg
Category Formula Renault 2.0 (2002-2019, 2022)
Regional Formula 3 (2024-...)
Country Asia
Inaugural season2002
Constructors Tatuus
Engine suppliers Renault
Drivers' champion Flag of Hong Kong.svg Gerrard Xie
Teams' champion Flag of Hong Kong.svg H-Star Racing
Official website rsasiamotorsport.com/formularenault/
Motorsport current event.svg Current season

The Formula Renault AsiaCup (formerly known as the Asian Formula Renault Challenge and AFR Series) is a Formula Regional championship held in Asia. The series debuted in 2002 and also held the China Formula Renault Challenge.

Contents

The series is a part of the Formula Racing Development Limited (FRD) organization managed by Kenneth Ma to promote motorsport in Asia. [1] The FRD also runs the China Formula Campus and Clio Cup China Series.

The cars use Tatuus chassis and 2.0 L Renault Clio engines like other Formula Renault 2.0 series. After several seasons racing on Kumho tires, the series started using Giti tires from 2014.

About

With the aim of providing a budget junior racing series around the Asian region, FRD, with the support of Renault Sport, imported a fleet of Formula Renault 2.0 race cars and first organized the Asian Formula Renault Series in 2000. The series attracted numerous young talents from the region.

From 2002 to 2005, the series held an invitational race during the Macau Grand Prix weekend. Future F1 drivers such as Kamui Kobayashi, Kazuki Nakajima, Bruno Senna and Red Bull Junior Team's Scott Speed all once took part in the event.

The Asian Formula Renault Series changed its name to the Formula Renault AsiaCup, commencing in 2020. Formula Renault AsiaCup aligned with the Formula Renault Eurocup running the Tatuus F3R-Spec car with a Renault engine (Formula Renault FR-19) and the FIA F3/2018 homologated chassis.

Regulation

The main classification was the International Challenge, the winner of which was the overall champion of the series. From 2007 until 2013, Asian drivers also had a parallel category with the Asian Challenge. Another class, for Chinese events only, was the China Formula Renault Challenge, which was an entry-level series intended to reduce the championship cost. All series drivers and teams raced at the same time during the races in China but points were calculated separately.

The cars can be tested outside the race weekend on the Zhuhai International Circuit or Shanghai International Circuit.

The race weekend starts on Thursday and Friday with a 2-hour free practice session but with additional cost for drivers. On Saturday there are two 30 minute practice sessions and 20 minutes of qualifications. A warm-up (15 minutes) occurs on Sunday morning and two 10 lap races are held in the afternoon.

In 2013, the series changed its championship format to 3 classes, "International Class" as the main championship, "Asian Class" for rookie drivers of the region and "Masters Class" for gentlemen drivers who are at the age of 35 or older. The 3 classes have their own drivers' and teams' classifications and championship. [2]

In 2015, the series changed its championship format again due to the introduction of the current FR2.0 car, which debuted in 2013 in the European series. [3] Starting from this season, there are two classes, Class A for drivers and teams competing with the 2013 FR2.0 car, and Class B for drivers and teams using the FR2.0 old spec cars. [4]

Only drivers and teams that complete 75% of a race receive points. Points are awarded in each race as follows:

Drivers' Championship
Position 1st  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  10th  11th  12th  13th  14th 
Points302420171513119754321
Teams' Championship
Position 1st  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th 
Points108654321

Champions

Series Winners

SeasonInternational ClassTeam ChampionAsian Class (class B 2015 onward)Team ChampionIFC Challenge/Masters ClassTeam Champion
2002 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Cheng Congfu Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg FRD Team
2003 Flag of Macau.svg Rodolfo Ávila Flag of Macau.svg Asia Racing Team
2004 Flag of Japan.svg Hideaki Nakao Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg FRD Team
2005 Flag of the Republic of China.svg Hanss Lin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Shangsai FRD Team Flag of the Republic of China.svg Hanss Lin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Shangsai FRD Team
2006 Flag of Finland.svg Pekka Saarinen Flag of Macau.svg Asia Racing Team Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Alexandre Imperatori Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Shangsai FRD Team
2007 Flag of Finland.svg Pekka Saarinen Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg M3 Racing Team Flag of Hong Kong.svg Jim Ka To Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg M3 Racing Team Flag of Finland.svg Pekka Saarinen Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg M3 Racing Team
2008 Flag of Hong Kong.svg Jim Ka To Flag of Finland.svg PS Racing Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hong-Wei Cao Not Contested Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Christian ChiaNot Contested
2009 Flag of Israel.svg Alon Day Flag of Macau.svg Asia Racing Team Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhi Qiang Zhang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg PTRS TeamNot Contested
2010 Flag of Thailand.svg Sandy Nicholas Stuvik Flag of Macau.svg Asia Racing Team Flag of Thailand.svg Sandy Nicholas Stuvik Flag of Macau.svg Asia Racing Team Not Contested
2011 Flag of Finland.svg Leopold Ringbom Flag of Finland.svg PS Racing Flag of Japan.svg Yuki Shiraishi Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Champ Motorsport Not Contested
2012 Flag of Japan.svg Yosuke Yamazaki Flag of Hong Kong.svg Buzz RacingNot Contested Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Wayne Shen Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Modena Motorsport
2013 Flag of Colombia.svg Julio Acosta Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Champ Motorsport Flag of the Republic of China.svg Jason Kang Flag of the Republic of China.svg KRC Flag of Hong Kong.svg Leo Wong Flag of Macau.svg Asia Racing Team
2014 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alice Powell Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg FRD Team Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Qin Tianqi Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Champ Motorsport Flag of France.svg Guillaume Cunnington Flag of Finland.svg PS Racing
2015 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Dan Wells Flag of Hong Kong.svg BlackArts Racing Team Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Andy Zheng Flag of Finland.svg PS Racing Not Contested
2016 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Josh Burdon Flag of Hong Kong.svg BlackArts Racing Team Flag of Hong Kong.svg Jasper Thong Flag of Macau.svg Asia Racing Team Not Contested
2017 Flag of Macau.svg Charles Leong Flag of Hong Kong.svg BlackArts Racing Team Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hua Miao Flag of Hong Kong.svg BlackArts Racing Team Not Contested
2018 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Daniel Cao Flag of Hong Kong.svg BlackArts Racing Team Not Contested
2019 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Joey Alders Flag of Hong Kong.svg BlackArts Racing Team Not Contested
2020 Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions
2021 Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions
2022 Flag of Hong Kong.svg Gerrard Xie Flag of Hong Kong.svg H-Star Racing

Macau Asian Formula Renault Challenge Winners

YearPole PositionWinning DriversWinning Team
2002 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jamie Green Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jamie Green Flag of Malaysia.svg Team Meritus [5]
2003 Flag of Japan.svg Hideki Nadao Flag of Japan.svg Hideki Nadao Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Shangsai FRD GT TiresTeam [6]
2004 Flag of Japan.svg Kamui Kobayashi Flag of Macau.svg Cheong Lou Meng Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Champ Motorsport [7]
2005 Flag of Italy.svg Luca Persiani Flag of Japan.svg Hiroyuki Matsumura Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Asia Racing Team [8]

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References

  1. ↑ FRD Motorsports, About us frdsports.com
  2. ↑ 2013 AFR Series Guidelines frdsports.com
  3. ↑ "Clio AFR Launch & 2015 race schedule". FRD Motorsports. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  4. ↑ "2015 AFR Sporting & Technical Regulations" (PDF). FRD Motorsports. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  5. ↑ http://archive.grandprix.gov.mo/gp2002/en/real_result_table.php Results 49th Macau GP
  6. ↑ http://archive.grandprix.gov.mo/mgpc/public_html/gp50/en/index.php?cat=result&race=FRenault_RACE.csv#view Results 50th Macau GP
  7. ↑ http://archive.grandprix.gov.mo/mgpc/public_html/gp51/en/index.php?cat=result&race=renault_r.csv#view Results 51st Macau GP
  8. ↑ http://archive.grandprix.gov.mo/mgpc/public_html/gp52/en/index.php?cat=result&race=Formula_Renault_Race.csv#view Archived 2013-12-31 at the Wayback Machine Results 52nd Macau GP
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