Divisions | |
Industry | Automotive |
Predecessors |
|
Founded | 1976 (as Renault Sport) 2 April 2002 (as Renault Sport Technologies) 3 February 2016 (as Renault Sport Racing/Renault Sport Cars) |
Revenue | €70.3 million (2013) |
€-4.8 million (2013) | |
Profit | €5.5 million (2013) |
Number of employees
|
185 (2013) |
Parent | Renault |
Divisions |
Gordini Renault Tech |
Website | www.renaultsport.com |
Renault Sport Racing and Renault Sport Cars, both commonly known as Renault Sport (French pronunciation: [ʁəno spɔʁ]) or Renaultsport, are the motorsport, performance and special vehicles divisions of Renault. Renault Sport was officially established in 1976 as a merger between the Alpine and Gordini competition departments. Renault Sport Racing organises many Renault-backed one-make championships worldwide and is in charge of Renault group's official involvement in motor racing, including Formula One.
Renault Sport was created at the end of 1976, when Renault closed down the Alpine competition department (at that time, its main motorsport division), located at Dieppe, and moved all the racing activities to the Gordini factory at Viry-Châtillon, just outside Paris. The Dieppe-based Alpine department specialised in the construction of race car chassis while the Viry-Châtillon-based Gordini focussed on engines. However, several conflicts emerged between them, and Renault took the decision to unify both departments into a single location in order to achieve a greater integration and harmony. The company concentrated principally on developing a car for Formula One, although it also participated in other series.
In 2002, the Viry-Châtillon factory became the engine department of the Renault F1 team and Renault Sport was moved to Les Ulis and renamed Renault Sport Technologies (RST).
On 3 February 2016, Renault announced a reorganisation of its racing and performance activities. The Formula One operation and RST's former motorsport branch were put under the new Renault Sport Racing division. RST's former roadcar branch at Les Ulis became the Renault Sport Cars division.
Gordini-tuned Renault cars won many rallies during the 1950s and 1960s, and Alpine, being a subsidiary of Renault, won the first World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1973. In the WRC, Renault had some success with cars such as the R5 Turbo and the R17 Gordini until it left international rallying in late 1994 (although it continued competing in national and promotional rally series).