Tatuus Renault (2007)

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“Indy winner’s stepping stone” ex-Felix Rosenqvist Formula Renault 2.0 car Ready for races and single-seater trackdays When Formula Renault ceased to be at the end of the 2020 season, it had been acting as a cornerstone of Europe’s single-seater talent ladder for some five decades. Arguably the most successful Formula One feeder series alongside Formula 3, the series saw the first light of day back in 1971 and soon held a reputation as a respected entry-level series for young and aspiring drivers to hone their skills before moving up to Formula 3 and Formula 2. Having been the category’s prime championship since 1991, the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup latched on to the highly successful World Series by Renault weekends from 2005 on, helping to showcase the French manufacturer’s massive involvement in European single-seater racing. With the Eurocup serving as the tip of its own pyramid, the Formula Renault 2.0 category with its Renault Clio engine and Sadev gearbox flourished through countless regional and national championships that either used the same tubs or older-generation chassis. This particular machine is a Formula Renault chassis from the era that launched Italian manufacturer Tatuus into the single-seater world as a customer chassis powerhouse, with eventually over a thousand of these and similar chassis emerging from its factory in Lainate near Milan. The chassis for sale is from 2007, when Prema Powerteam from Grisignano di Zocco near Venice was in the process of establishing itself as one of the leading outfits in European single-seater racing. Delivered to the team at a time when Rene Rosin had just taken over the team from his father Angelo, chassis 172 first ran in October 2007, having been handed to mercurial Dutchman Henkie Waldschmidt, who at the time was heralded as a great promise but in the end never emerged beyond Formula 3. Debuting the car in the final round of the 2007 Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Championship, Waldschmidt notched up a seventh and a sixth, having been a quadruple pole sitter and double winner earlier in the season. In hindsight, the chassis’ heyday came in 2008, when it was handed to none other than 2026 Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist for a single appearance at Spa. Rosenqvist would go on to win the 2011 and 2013 F3 Masters, the 2014 and 2015 Macau GP and the 2015 FIA F3 Euroseries title, the latter also with Prema. Lithuanian Kazim Vasiliauskas took over chassis 172 for the final two rounds at Mugello and Monza, before it was offloaded to Slovenian team AK Plamtex, which ran the car for Habjan Matevz in the Swiss championship in 2009 and the Italian championship in 2010, with a third at Monza as Matevz’s best result. It then raced two more seasons with Croatian outfit Kreator Racing, where it ended on a high, as their driver Kristijan Habulin claimed the rookie title and finished second overall in the final standings. The current lady owner bought the car from Kreator around 2016 and has only used it for three track days at the circuit of Zolder. The operation of the Sadev gearbox has been changed to paddle shift which can be easily reversed as all parts are included. Included in the sale are three extra sets of crack tested rims with good tyres as well as some spare parts.