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The plan to run a revived Formula Renault UK championship has been dropped by the British Automobile Racing Club.

Last year AUTOSPORT revealed the push, led by promoter Grovewood, to relaunch the flagship category by bringing the latest-spec Tatuus used in Renault's flagship Eurocup series to Britain for the first time.

A breakdown in negotiations with the organisers of the marque's Northern European Cup meant that the initial plan to have one of its seven rounds as part of the NEC meeting at Silverstone fell through, and now it has been revealed the intended revival of the series, dropped in 2012, has been scrapped all together.

Instead, the BARC hopes it can run and promote a Formula Libre category that would accommodate the FR2.0/13 alongside pre-2012 Formula 3 - in the wake of the collapse of British F3- and Formula BMW machinery, and be run over six triple-headers at Snetterton, Rockingham (twice), Thruxton, Croft and Oulton Park.

BARC general manager Ian Watson told AUTOSPORT: "We would have liked to have a full grid of Formula Renaults this year but it just simply wasn't possible.

"The fact that Formula Renault UK hasn't returned as planned is a disappointment in no uncertain terms, but the single-seater market at the moment is fragile.

"There are a lot of people with various vehicles which are not being raced and this is an ideal way of putting them all to good use under one banner. The performance of all the cars can quite easily be equalised."

In addition to the canned FR UK plans, the BARC has also officially dropped the two-litre series it ran for the older-spec FR Tatuus chassis, meaning there will be no dedicated series for the popular Renault category in the UK this year.

The 2000 Tatuus, which would have formed a Class B within FR UK had it gone ahead, is now expected to be absorbed into another libre concept linked to the BARC, Formula 5, along with Mygale's Formula Ford EcoBoost chassis.

Formula Libre calendar:



Snetterton May 9-10 Rockingham May 30-31 Thruxton June 13-14 Croft July 11-12 Oulton Park August 15 Rockingham October 17



