22
«
FOR US, DALLARA
MEANS HIGH PERFOR
AT LOW COST»
B
ENOIT
D
UPONT
,
THE LONG
-
SERVING
W
ORLD
S
ERIES BY
R
ENAULT TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
AND CURRENT
S
PORTING
M
ANAGER FOR
R
ENAULT
S
PORT
T
ECHNOLOGIES
,
SUMMARIZES
AN EXCITING
2012
SEASON WITH THE
R
ENAULT
3.5
DRIVEN BY THE
D
UTCH ROOKIE
,
R
OBIN
F
RIJNS
,
WHO SNATCHED VICTORY FROM
J
ULES
B
IANCHI AND
S
AM
B
IRD
IN THE VERY LAST RACE OF THE YEAR IN A TRULY EXTRAORDINARY CAR
RENAULT 3.5
2012
was a break-out year for
Renault 3.5, with a car that
benefitted from significant
improvements over its predecessor
in terms of its aerodynamic design
and a Zytek engine featuring an
extra 50 horsepower. How did it go?
«
It was a positive year all round for
the category. In terms of
performance, the Dallara T12 proved
to be highly competitive, reaching
quality levels that exceeded our
expectations. The drivers were very
happy with the evolution of the
car/engine combination, which offers
considerable grip and greater speed
on the curves. All these factors
enabled us to out-perform our
competitors».
How was the concept of such an
“
advanced” Dallara born?
«
It was all thanks to the engineers at
Dallara who had the initial idea of
implementing the DRS, and how it
could be done in such a way that it
would differ from what happens in
F.1. This lead to the increased load of
the single-seater. We have always had
an excellent relationship with Dallara,
the quality of spare parts is second to
none and this helped the
championship to achieve the current
performance levels as well as
attracting interest from the drivers
and the teams».
The extra grip and power helped to
reduce lap times by as much as 4
seconds with respect to the previous
car. The old car already provided great
training for F.1, but now it’s even
better…
«
The car offers excellent preparation for
F.1. And we saw this during the rookies
only test sessions in Abu Dhabi where
the fastest drivers were those who had
graduated from our championship*. This
was thanks to the speeds it is possible to
reach on the curves in the Dallara 3.5
when fitted with the Michelin tyres,
