World Series future secured

The arrival of Carlos Ghosn as the head of Renault had been expected to herald a reduction in its motorsport activities, and the World Series by Renault package - which comprises the 3.5 V6 Series, Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and the Megane Trophy - appeared to be in a vulnerable position since its contracts expired at the end of 2007.

However, Renault's racing manager Francois Sicard confirmed that an agreement had been reached with Ghosn that would increase the promotion of the series.

"We had an important meeting with Carlos Ghosn in order to clarify the strategy of Renault Motorsport," he said. "And it was clearly decided that we will continue and we will reinforce our involvement in the World Series by Renault - meaning that the situation for 2008, '09, and '10 has now been clarified. It was very important for us because we were sure to go to '07 and we were expecting news beyond that.

"Now the road is clear. We will have more means in order to do promotion and marketing and to have a stronger concept."

The World Series was created for 2005 following the amalgamation of the Nissan World Series and Formula Renault V6 Eurocup. It created a high performance single-seater series that sits between GP2 and Formula 3 in the motorsport ladder. Budgets are around half of those required for GP2, and Sicard said the series will maintain its philosophy of controlling costs.

"We don't have a budget of more than 650,000 Euros," he added. "Really we want to stay focused on the cost per season. If we want to have good drivers, everybody needs to have the chance to race - if the costs are high, we will find only wealthy drivers, not necessarily the very talented ones."

This means the current Dallara chassis is likely to be employed post 2007 with modifications while the 425bhp engine will also be retained, with a possible power hike to 450-470 bhp.

It is unclear what impact this decision will have on the Renault-backed GP2 championship.