The 2018 promotion of the Renault Sport Academy officialized
The seven members of Renault's young driver program have been revealed, with the 2018 class seeing the integration of three young French drivers.
The spearhead of the Renault Sport Academy will be the British-Korean driver Jack Aitken, 22, who raced last year in GP3. His 2017 campaign resulted in a runner-up title behind his ART teammate George Russell. Aitken distinguished himself the most in 2015 by winning the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup title and the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS title. The young driver will also be moving up to F2 next season, still with the French team ART, which is offering him a promotion.
The 18-year-old Franco-Argentinian driver Sacha Fenestraz joins the academy for the first time. The brother-in-law of José Maria Lopez (three-time WTCC world champion) won the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup championship last year and has to his credit the title of F4 France champion. He also gained some experience in F3 with Carlin last season thanks to a stint at the Nürburgring, and especially with a participation in the Macau Grand Prix, where he achieved an honorable seventh place. His 2018 program will logically take place in F3 within the Carlin team, which was crowned champion last year thanks to Lando Norris.
The Renault Sport Academy will continue to trust the 18-year-old British driver Max Fewtrell, who mainly drove last season in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, finishing in sixth place. His main achievement is winning the British F4 title in 2016. He will compete in the Eurocup again next year.
⚡️ANNOUNCEMENT⚡️ Delighted to stay on with the @RenaultSportF1 Academy for a third year, and join @ARTGP in @FIA_F2 for 2018! Let’s go 😏 pic.twitter.com/pc5Awm036z
— Jack Aitken – 한세용 (@JaitkenRacer) 15 janvier 2018
The very young 16-year-old Danish driver Christian Lundgaard is also continuing his journey within the Renault academy. He will start his second season in single-seaters in 2018 after having participated in three different F4 championships (F4 Denmark, F4 Northern Europe, and F4 Spain) last year. This season was very prolific, with two championship titles in F4 Northern Europe and F4 Spain. Thus, the young Nordic driver will head towards the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup in 2018.
The Chinese driver Sun Yue Yang also retains his place in the structure despite a distant eighteenth place in Formula Renault NEC last year. He will drive in British F3 next season.
In addition to Sacha Fenestraz, two other French drivers are joining the Renault Sport Academy, namely Victor Martins, 16 years old, who is the 2017 French F4 vice-champion, and Arthur Rougier, 17 years old, crowned the 2017 French F4 champion. Both will continue their progression in promotional formulas in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup.
