Bacheta to enter new Renault Sport Trophy

Luciano Bacheta will enter the new for 2015 Renault Sport Trophy, joining the successful Italian team, Oregon.

The British driver will return to closed cockpit racing for the first time since beating F1 racer Max Chilton to the 2006 T Cars Championship, aged 16. In the interim, Bacheta has forged an impressive single seater career, winning races in Formula Renault and Auto GP, claiming the 2012 FIA Formula Two title and testing for the Williams Formula 1 team. In 2015 he will join the Oregon Team, multiple champions in the Renault Sport Trophy’s predecessor; the Eurocup Megane Trophy.

The Renault Sport Trophy will run as part of the popular World Series by Renault race weekends, competing at legendary circuits like Spa, Silverstone, Nurburgring and Le Mans. The Pro-Am series, labelled “Elite” and “Prestige”, will see “Elite” Bacheta partnered with “Prestige” Niccolo Nalio, an experienced Italian racer, who has wins in the Megane Trophy under his belt. Each driver will have their own sprint race, as well as a combined endurance race. The champion in the top “Elite” category will complete a development program, before a test opportunity with the official Nismo team in the Japanese Super GT Championship, with a potential race seat on offer.

The Renault Sport Trophy will use the new Renault Sport R.S. 01, with its carbon fibre monocoque chassis, high levels of downforce, and Nismo V6 3.8L twin-turbno engine producing more than 500bhp.

“Having been driving single seaters and prototypes for so long, driving with a roof over my head takes a bit of getting used to!” said Bacheta, “considering it’s not an open wheel car, it still has good levels of downforce and an awful lot of power, so it’s a really enjoyable and challenging car to drive. Our pace in pre-season testing in Valencia was good, but really the focus is on the opening round at Spa. My teammate Niccolo was quick too, so I think we will be a strong pairing in the endurance races, especially with a team like Oregon. Thanks to them and Renault Sport, I’m looking forward to getting back to racing, and back to winning.”

The opening round of the Renault Sport Trophy will be at the famous Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, on the 30-31 May 2015. Coverage of the races will be on Motors TV, with Race 2 at Spa live on the high speed television channel.