Nurminen Racing Engineering: Difference between revisions

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Heading off into their second season as a full-time entrant, the team decided to not extend the contracts of either 2016 driver, opting instead for a fully Finnish lineup of [[Tommi Hämäläinen]] and [[Markus-Petteri Pykälistö]]. The chassis supplier was switched to last year's constructors' champion Jones while Mugen-Honda remained as the engine supplier.
Heading off into their second season as a full-time entrant, the team decided to not extend the contracts of either 2016 driver, opting instead for a fully Finnish lineup of [[Tommi Hämäläinen]] and [[Markus-Petteri Pykälistö]]. The chassis supplier was switched to last year's constructors' champion Jones while Mugen-Honda remained as the engine supplier.


Immediatedly at the opening round at Highlands Motorsport Park it was clear that this driver lineup was far better than the one the team fielded last year. Both drivers qualified in the top 6, and while Hämäläinen's race ended in an early accident Pykälistö brought the car home to finish 4th, equalling the team's best result. At the next round in Adelaide Hämäläinen would immediatedly break this record by finishing 2nd - the team's first ever podium in the series - in the first start while Pykälistö crashed out. However, in the second start Hämäläinen had a very ragged race and collided with multiple cars before being forced to retire, with Pykälistö also suffering another accident. In the first start at Brands Hatch Hämäläinen scored the first pole and win for the team as Pykälistö once again succumbed to driver error. In the second start the roles were reversed as Hämäläinen retired after an early accident but Pykälistö kept it on the road to finish 10th and grab a point for his team. At the first start in Austria Hämäläinen finished 3rd with Pykälistö a distant 19th. Hämäläinen finished4th in the first start in USA while Pykälistö retired, however this ultimately meant nothing as the whole series collapsed before the weekend was over, leaving NRE an unconfirmed 4th in the team standings.
Immediatedly at the opening round at Highlands Motorsport Park it was clear that this driver lineup was far better than the one the team fielded last year. Both drivers qualified in the top 6, and while Hämäläinen's race ended in an early accident Pykälistö brought the car home to finish 4th, equalling the team's best result. At the next round in Adelaide Hämäläinen would immediatedly break this record by finishing 2nd - the team's first ever podium in the series - in the first start while Pykälistö crashed out. However, in the second start Hämäläinen had a very ragged race and collided with multiple cars before being forced to retire, with Pykälistö also suffering another accident. In the first start at Brands Hatch Hämäläinen scored the first pole and win for the team as Pykälistö once again succumbed to driver error. In the second start the roles were reversed as Hämäläinen retired after an early accident but Pykälistö kept it on the road to finish 10th and grab a point for his team. At the first start in Austria Hämäläinen finished 3rd with Pykälistö a distant 19th. Hämäläinen finished 4th in the first start in USA while Pykälistö retired, however this ultimately meant nothing as the whole series collapsed before the weekend was over, leaving NRE an unconfirmed 4th in the team standings.


F3RWRS became the FIA Formula 3 Eurasian Championship for [[2018 FIA Formula 3 Eurasian Championship season|2018]], and NRE opted to concentrate their efforts on series under the [[AutoReject International|AutoReject]] branding, selling off all the F3RWRS equipment they had.
F3RWRS became the FIA Formula 3 Eurasian Championship for [[2018 FIA Formula 3 Eurasian Championship season|2018]], and NRE opted to concentrate their efforts on series under the [[AutoReject International|AutoReject]] branding, selling off all the F3RWRS equipment they had.

Revision as of 08:32, 24 February 2021

Nurminen Racing Engineering is a team founded by former Formula One driver Niko Nurminen to compete in various motorsport series. The name was first used in the 1995 Duel in the Desert, when Nurminen entered the non-championship event as a guest driver under that entry name. The actual racing team, however, was founded as Nurminen Engineering for the 1998 Rejects Touring Car Championship season, but it was later changed to the current name to avoid confusion with actual engineering companies. Nurminen also used the team name when running his cousin Nick Nurmester in Nordic F3 and Formula Two. Until 2010 the team's main sponsor was the mobile phone giant Nokia, but following a downturn in profits they decided to end their support for Nurminen. In 2015, Nurminen was one of the first teams to lodge their entry in the inaugural F1 Rejects Development Series season, and they also took part in a number of races during the same year's F3RWRS season. In July of the same year, Swiss investment company Finanz-Sichereit Konglomerat bought 49% of the team as Niko Nurminen was struggling to find enough money to keep the team going. However, apart from the logos of a few Swiss companies appearing on the cars, it had no effect on the team's functions.

Soon afterwards the team decided to focus on single-seaters and sold their RTCC operation to Ecurie Fabron. This paid off in 2016, as while their first season as a full-time F3RWRS team was rather unsuccessful, they conquered both titles in F1RDS. In 2017, they were granted a F1RWRS entry.

RTCC

The first season as a proper team saw Nurminen take part in the inaugural Rejects Touring Car Championship season, running two Volvos for Nathan Nurmester and Nikolai Nurmovitsch. The first race saw both cars just barely scraping it into the points, while in the second both cars collided with each other and were among the last finishers. At Donington, both cars were again on points in race 1, before a bad qualifying only allowed Nurmovitsch to get in the points in race 2. The series then collapsed due to the organizer Hermann Mann being arrested, and wasn't revived again until 2015.

Nathan Nurmester's #91 Volvo showcased in early 1998

Nurminen re-entered with the same car and drivers as before, with title sponsor Nokia replaced by an array of other Finnish companies, including the elevator company KONE which already sponsored the team in 1998. However, their return initially wasn't successful, as in the first Oran Park race both cars finished at the bottom of the field, while in the second one both retired. Knockhill gave them more mixed results, with a double retirement in race one being countered by a double points finish in race two. In San Francisco Nurmester brought home points in both races, while Nurmovitsch crashed out in both, sparking rumours about the latter's retirement. Spa was forgettable to the team as a whole, with Nurmester crashing out and Nurmovtsch finishing outside of the points in both races. Nurmester was also banned from the next round due to his collision with Pieter Kickert (who received the same penalty), which led to him being permanently replaced by Ryan Carlton, who was released at the same time from his Twinings Earl Grey Racing contract. This changed little in the way of results, as the team's best result in Suzuka was 16th by Carlton in the first race. At the season finale in Austria the team managed nine points, as Nurmovitsch finished 15th in the first race while Carlton finished 8th and last in the attrition-filled second race after losing his chance at a podium due to a collision.

By then Volvo had had enough of the poor results and removed their factory support from the team. The lack of results had also made the team to lose a lot of sponsors, and with a new full-time F3RWRS program putting an even bigger strain on the team's resources, their RTCC garage and 2016 entry was sold to a group of French investors going under the name Ecurie Fabron. Some of their RTCC personnel moved to the team's other projects, but due to the different natures of closed-cockpit and open-wheel racing many employees had to search for work elsewhere.

F1RDS/AR2.0 E

NRE (F1RDS/AR 2.0 E)
NRELogo.png
Full Name Neste Oil Nurminen Racing Engineering
Base Flag of Finland.svg.png Finland
Founder(s) Niko Nurminen
Team Principal(s) Niko Nurminen
Technical Director Tuomas Vuori
Current Drivers Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Gregg Donnelly
Other Noted Drivers Flag of Finland.svg.png Tõnu Pykälistö
Flag of Estonia svg.png Anu Võsu
Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Thomas Butler
Flag of Finland svg.png Kyösti Pykälistö
Debut 2015 F1RDS season
Races 51
Constructors' Championships 1
Drivers' Championships 1
Race Wins 6
Podiums 18
Points 421
Pole Positions 6
Fastest Laps 3


2015

After securing new sponsorship from a large number of Finnish companies, Neste Oil standing as their title sponsor, Nurminen were the the third team to lodge their entry into the F1 Rejects Development Series, a new championship aimed at bringing new junior talent into the world of RWRS and RoLFS. For their first season they've entered the Finnish Tõnu Pykälistö from Scuderia Alitalia's Giovanile Squadra and Estonian Anu Võsu, a talent they found from the Finnish Formula Ford series. The team originally intended to use Mecachrome engines before Opel-Spiess units became available. The pre-season Winter Cup showed some of the team's potential as Võsu was on points in the first two races while Pykälistö managed a 3rd at the last race. In the first race of the regular season in Australia, Pykälistö finished 8th while Võsu became the race's only retirement following a transmission failure. In San Marino, the team scored big by taking a 1-2 at the first race from 2nd and 4th on the grid, but failed to keep up the pace in the second race and only Pykälistö managed a 6th, while Võsu struggled and finished in 19th, the same spot where she started. However, this decent haul of points meant that both the team and Pykälistö were second in their respective championships after the first three races.

For the next two races Võsu continued to struggle, while Pykälistö was able to score in both. At the second French race however the tables were turned, as Pykälistö finished outside the points for the first time during the whole season while Võsu drove a good race to finish 3rd, her second podium. In Czech Republic Pykälistö returned to his previous form by finishing both races in points, but Võsu performed very badly and was temporarily replaced by Tommi Hämäläinen to give the Finn more seat time after making his Reject Motorsport debut in F3RWRS at the Monaco SuperPrix. In his first race for the team Hämäläinen immediately impressed by being on the podium with 3rd, which was coupled by Pykälistö also being on the points with 7th. The next race didn't go as well, Pykälistö still managing an 8th while Hämäläinen was way back in 18th. Germany was rather forgettable for the team as both cars failed to score points for the first time in the season, and their bad form continued in Belgium where neither car were even close to scoring points.

The penultimate GP in Italy gave the team a slight relief as Pykälistö was able to score four more points with 7th. However, the second car, still driven by Hämäläinen, failed to score again by finishing 19th. For the season finale at Zandvoort, Nurminen decided to put Võsu back into the car to gain more experience as Hämäläinen already had secured a seat in the F3RWRS for next season. Neither car managed to score at the first Dutch round, Pykälistö losing four positions in the last two laps and finishing 12th while Võsu only managed 23rd. However the team managed to cap off the season with a double points-finish, Pykälistö being 8th and Võsu 5th.

2016

For 2016, the team decided to retain Anu Võsu for another season. As both Pykälistö and Hämäläinen moved on to F3RWRS, the team chose Florian Grünewald for the second seat. The pre-season Winter Cup featured very mixed results for the team, as while Võsu ultimately won the whole cup with one victory at the last round in Long Beach, many of Grünewald's races were plagued by car problems and he failed to score a single point in all six races, with a best result of 11th at the second Sonoma race.

Võsu continued her good form in the regular season by finishing 3rd and 9th at the season-opening Spanish round, but Grünewald was once again off the pace and only managed 23rd and 14th. At the next round in Britain Võsu scored another podium in the first start by both qualifying and finishing 2nd, while Grünewald was once again a distant 24th after spinning midway through the race. Another 4th position finish at the second start promoted Võsu second in the WDC standings, but Grünewald's 21st place finish was not good for their Teams' Championship prospects. The single start in Italy was literally pointless for the team, as Võsu was far back in 20th, although Grünewald managed his season best so far by finishing 13th. The disappointment carried on to Austria, where Võsu finished 17th and Grünewald 22nd. By this point the team had seen enough disappointing performances by Grünewald and promptly sacked him, with Thomas Butler moving back from F3RWRS to take the seat.

This seemingly boosted Võsu's morale as she finished 5th and 3rd in the Turkish races, while Butler's time away from the F1RDS machinery showed in the first race as he only managed a 14th place finish. However, in the second race he scored the team's first ever pole position and went on to finish 2nd, which helped the team climb up in the championship. The first French start went perfectly for the team, as Võsu started on pole and led Butler home to score the team's second-ever 1-2 finish. Võsu then failed to score in the second start, finishing 11th, while Butler barely scraped into the points in 9th. In Germany the team suffered their first retirement of the season as Võsu suffered a puncture while leading the race, although Butler was still able to score with a 5th. At Zandvoort they finished back-to-back with Butler 5th and Võsu 6th. Oulton Park proved to be one of their best weekends to date; Võsu started both races on pole, winning the first start and finishing 6th in the second after electronic problems, while Butler was 4th in the first start and inherited the win in the second. With these performances the team suddenly found themselves leading both championships.

The first start in Belgium went well for the team as Võsu won again from pole while Butler scored the team's first ever fastest lap en route to a 3rd place finish. However, in the second start the team had a bad qualifying, and in the race itself Võsu retired with suspension problems while Butler quietly finished 12th, outside of the points. They then suffered a poor weekend at Brno as Võsu was only able to finish 6th in the first start while Butler was outside of the points in 13th, with a double retirement in the second start making their charge for the teams' title a whole lot harder. A hat trick by Võsu and 3rd by Butler at the first start in Japan then clinched the teams' title for them, but the drivers' title went down to the wire as in the second race both cars were out from the points while Võsu's only remaining rival Aimée Gauthier battled for the win. Only an amazing performance by Daniela Anger denied the Frenchwoman from the win she needed to defeat Võsu in the standings, thus allowing NRE to take both titles.

2017

For the 2017 season F1RDS renamed itself into AutoReject 2.0 and split into two series, one for Europe and one for North America, while the pre-season Winter Cup was dropped. As relocating to North America would've been way too costly, especially with a new entry in F1RWRS to prepare, NRE decided to remain in Europe, however the F1RWRS entry also put so much strain on the team's limited management personnel that the signing of drivers was left to the last minute. In the end Kyösti Pykälistö, brother of their 2015 driver Tõnu, and Geoff Donnelly's son Gregg were signed to drive for the team.

The hurried preparation for the new season showed at the opening weekend in Spain, as in the feature race both cars finished outside the top 10 with Donnelly 11th and Pykälistö following in 12th. The sprint race wasn't much better as Donnelly only improved to 9th, just off the points, while Pykälistö slumped to 15th. At the next weekend in France things were initially much brighter, as both cars were in points, Donnelly 5th and Pykälistö 10th. However, the sprint race wasn't much to write home about as Pykälistö suffered his - and the team's - only retirement of the season by spinning off while Donnelly was 12th. More points followed in Austria as Pykälistö finished 4th and scored the fastest lap, although Donnelly was disappointingly 22nd. Pykälistö scored more points in the sprint race with a 7th while Donnelly repeated his result from the feature. In Italy Donnelly was again the better of the two by finishing 12th in the feature and grabbing more points with a 6th in the sprint, while Pykälistö only managed 23rd and 17th. In Great Britain neither driver managed to score points, with Pykälistö narrowly missing out in the sprint with a 9th. The Netherlands' round gave the team their best finish of the season as Donnelly was 2nd in the feature while Pykälistö was 12th, but the sprint race was once again forgettable. After a terrible weekend in Germany where the team failed to even break the top 20, the season finale in Czech Republic saw Pykälistö score points in both races with a 6th in the feature and 3rd in the sprint, the team's second and final podium of the year. Meanwhile Donnelly failed to break the top 10, finishing 14th and 13th, respectively.

Ultimately the season was deemed a complete failure for the team, as they slumped from being last year's champions to 9th in the teams' standings. However, although he eventually finished behind Pykälistö in the drivers' standings, Donnelly was given a contract extension due to his brief flashes of brilliance during the season.

2018

The team would continue in AR 2.0 Europe for another season, with Gregg Donnelly now promoted to #1 driver status.

F1RWRS

NRE (F1RWRS)
NRELogo.png
Full Name BASF Nurminen Grand Prix Engineering
Base Flag of Germany svg.png Germany
Founder(s) Niko Nurminen
Team Principal(s) Niko Nurminen
Technical Director Walther Rench
Current Drivers Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Martin McFry
Flag of Austria svg.png Marko Jantscher
Other Noted Drivers Flag of Switzerland svg.png Gregor Pascal
Debut 2017 Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series season
Races 32 (29 starts)
Constructors' Championships 0
Drivers' Championships 0
Race Wins 0
Podiums 0
Points 6
Pole Positions 1
Fastest Laps 0


2015: Non-championship entry

The team appeared in the F1RWRS for the first time in the non-championship 2015 Baltic Sea Grand Prix, running Nick Nurmester and Tommi Hämäläinen. They did well in their first outing, with Hämäläinen finishing 6th and Nurmester 9th after a poor qualifying and troubles in the race as well.

2017: First full-time season

After an intense lobbying campaign in 2016, the team was finally granted a full-time F1RWRS entry for the 2017 season. As the team lacked experience in competing at such high level, let alone building cars for themselves, Nurminen brokered a deal with Holden Racing Team which allowed them to use the Australian team's well-proven technical package from previous season. Due to logistical reasons the team needed a new base, which was founded in Germany with the help of chemical giant BASF who also became the team's title sponsor. Qualifying specialist Martin McFry was signed as the lead driver to help the team in making it out from prequalifying, while Swiss journeyman Gregor Pascal was brought in mainly to help with the finances and appease FSK, the Swiss part-owners of the team. Experienced Shinobu Katayama was brought in to help with testing while Nurminen's own protégé Thomas Yorke was also signed as reserve.

These decisions proved to be fruitful as the team qualified for the opening race in Adelaide, with McFry eventually nursing the car home in 9th while Pascal made himself a new enemy by taking out triple world champion Mark Dagnall while being lapped. However, car problems in the next pre-qualifying session at Bathurst prevented McFry from setting a time at all, causing the team to record a double-DNPQ despite Pascal's best prequalifying effort of the whole season. This performance was repeated at the next race in Brands Hatch, as the team's failure to set up either car for the torrential wet conditions saw them being well off the pace. In Italy both cars qualified again, but this came to nothing as Pascal crashed out early while McFry suffered an engine failure. In Austria McFry topped the prequalifying sheets - a feat he would repeat a few times over the course of the season - which was enough to pull Pascal into main qualifying as well despite his own lackluster time. In the race McFry was able to finish 8th while Pascal's race ended in a puncture. In Canada the team once again failed to prequalify as Pascal's poor time dragged the whole team down, causing team owner Niko Nurminen to start searching for replacements. With McFry once again showing blistering pace the team passed prequalifying despite Pascal's awful performance, although it came to nothing in the race as McFry suffered a puncture while Pascal failed to qualify at all. At Road America the team passed prequalifying as McFry was again the fastest, although Pascal's pace left much to be desired. However the race ended in another double-DNF with McFry suffering a puncture while Pascal's engine failed.

As this marked the halfway point of the season, Nurminen decided it was time to act and promptly sacked Pascal due to his generally poor results, with experienced Barii Mori coming from Sunshine to fill the second seat. Incidentally Pascal then moved to Sunshine to replace Mori. While this helped the team to go through prequalifying on a more regular basis, reliability was still lacking. At Norisring both cars were caught in an early pileup, and while Mori was able to continue and finish 10th (albeit last), there was still no certainty on how much the driver change actually helped the team. However all doubts were erased in Zandvoort, where after both cars were in the top 3 in prequalifying McFry went on to fetch the pole in main qualifying. Unfortunately this qualifying performance did not help the team much as both cars eventually retired with transmission problems, prompting them to join MRT in a private test to look for solutions to their reliability issues. The great performance in Zandvoort allowed the team to skip prequalifying entirely at Spa-Francorchamps, but both drivers were unusually off the pace and the team had little to celebrate as Mori finished 9th and last after a very ragged race while McFry had to retire due to a loose wheel. Monaco would prve to be the team's best race of the season so far as while Mori crashed out, McFry drove a well balanced race to finish 5th, allowing the team to take their first and ultimately only points of the season and hugely improve their position in the WCC standings. By now Nurminen had grown tired at Mori's tendency for accidents, and he was replaced for the last quarter of the season by Shinobu Katayama who had spent most of the season at Rob Lomas Racing. But the ex-Holden cars were lacking pace at the fast Marrakech street circuit and so Katayama DNQed in her first appearance with the team she originally signed with at the beginning of the year, while McFry eventually finished the race in 17th and last. The next race in Argentina would be the only one of the season where both cars were classified, McFry in 10th and Katayama in 12th despite her crashing with Thomas de Bock eight laps from the end. At Fuji McFry was the last driver to finish in 11th, while Katayama's race ended early with engine problems. The season finale at Macau wasn't much different with McFry 16th and Katayama retiring after an early accident.

In the end the team was classified 11th in the team standings - best of the new teams that season - and handily won the Prequalifying Cup, largely thanks to many impressive performances by McFry.

2018: Improvement on the horizon?

For 2018 the team retained Martin McFry as the team leader while signing AutoReject 3.5 runner-up Marko Jantscher for the second car.

F3RWRS

NRE (F3RWRS)
NRELogo.png
Full Name Nurminen Racing Engineering
Base Flag of Finland.svg.png Finland
Founder(s) Niko Nurminen
Team Principal(s) Niko Nurminen
Technical Director Wilford Rench
Current Drivers Flag of Finland.svg.png Tommi Hämäläinen
Flag of Finland.svg.png Markus-Petteri Pykälistö
Other Noted Drivers Flag of Andorra.svg.png Herberto Dominguez
Flag of Italy svg.png Oliviero Cinotti
Flag of Sweden svg.png Ragnar Larsen
Debut 2015 Formula 3 Rejects World Race Series season
Races 29
Constructors' Championships 0
Drivers' Championships 0
Race Wins 1
Podiums 3
Points 127
Pole Positions 1
Fastest Laps 0


2015

With SAGS refugee Stefan Kuntz bringing in some cash from Vodafone, Nurminen could afford to enter a RWRS-sanctioned event the first time as they took part in the 2015 F3RWRS Monaco SuperPrix as a non-championship guest entry. Kuntz was partnered by Tommi Hämäläinen, a product of Fusion Motorsports' young driver programme who had just recently joined Nurminen's management portfolio. The team performed mediocrely, with Kuntz retiring due to a loose wheel and Hämäläinen quietly finishing 21st. Afterwards the team managed to secure more permanent sponsors, and while Kuntz fell out with Vodafone's management, he was able to lure in Agfa as the team's semi-permanent sponsor.

In the buildup to the German F3RWRS round, Takagi Racing Enterprises failed to nominate a replacement to the banned Hendra Naufal in time. As a result they were banned for competing in the round, and because Nurminen were the first team on the reserve list they were granted Takagi's entry for Germany and eligibility for championship points for the rest of the season. Enrico Molinaro was given the first car as he was already on the track for the F2RWRS race (for which he eventually failed to prequalify), while for the second car Niko Nurminen signed Ragnar Larsen, who had just recently been taken under his management. In their first non-SuperPrix outing they hardly made an impact, as Larsen was the better one of the two by finishing 19th while Molinaro was 24th after being involved in a number of collisions. The story was similar in the second race, only this time Larsen was as high as 16th, while Molinaro diced in the top 10 before dropping down to 18th due to a collision with Dale Hamilton.

At Spa, their third outing of the season, Larsen was involved in a very serious collision and was nearly taken out, but eventually managed to limp home in 29th. Meanwhile, amidst all the chaos, Jari Lappalainen had a very strong race and eventually managed 14th, the team's best F3RWRS result to date. The huge repair costs incurred in these F3RWRS outings were one of the main reasons for selling part of the team to FSK.

Fielding three cars a the Surfers Superprix, the team scored their debut points when Renato Bulku, who had impressed in his debut RoLFS season, finished 4th while Lappalainen managed 10th. In the third car Diego Álvarez Torrente, another RoLFS recruit, had a very poor qualifying session and only managed to finish 25th.

2016

For the 2016 season, the team fielded Ragnar Larsen and Italian rookie Oliviero Cinotti, who brought with himself some much-needed cash from Barilla. The team originally considered using Lancia engines, but lost out in the fight for the limited supply of them and instead settled for Mugen-Honda power, coupled with the well-proven Dallara chassis. Herberto Dominguez was later confirmed as their reserve driver.

In the first two races of the season at Adelaide, Larsen brought the team points with a 13th in the first start, but suffered a water leak in the second start while being in another good position. Meanwhile Cinotti was consistent if unspectacular by finishing 18th and 17th, respectively. At the British round Larsen finished 18th in the first race, but then triggered a first-lap collision in the second start which also took out Tommi Hämäläinen, one of the drivers managed by Nurminen. As Cinotti again failed to score with 25th and 17th place finishes, Nurminen announced that both drivers could be replaced soon if results didn't improve. In Italy the results were even worse with Larsen in 24th and 20th and Cinotti in 30th and 33rd, with Cinotti being involved in collisions in both races. At the Pau SuperPrix Larsen finished 27th after poor strategy calls by the team, while Cinotti retired late in the race with electrical problems. At the Canadian race - shortened to one start due to bad weather - both cars finished back to back in 22nd and 23rd, with Cinotti ahead of his more experienced team mate.

Despite scoring the team's only points in the season so far, Larsen was replaced in favor of Dominguez prior to the German round of the championship. A new qualifying system was introduced mid-season, and Cinotti failed to qualify while Dominguez crashed out in the first start at Norisring. Both cars then made it through to the second start, and Dominguez scored the team's first points since the opening round with a 12th place finish while Cinotti was not too far off in 18th. Both cars then crashed out from the Zandvoort SuperPrix. A long streak of below-20th place finishes and retirements followed, before heacy attrition at the Surfers SuperPrix saw both cars finish in points, with Dominguez 8th and Cinotti 6th.

2017

Heading off into their second season as a full-time entrant, the team decided to not extend the contracts of either 2016 driver, opting instead for a fully Finnish lineup of Tommi Hämäläinen and Markus-Petteri Pykälistö. The chassis supplier was switched to last year's constructors' champion Jones while Mugen-Honda remained as the engine supplier.

Immediatedly at the opening round at Highlands Motorsport Park it was clear that this driver lineup was far better than the one the team fielded last year. Both drivers qualified in the top 6, and while Hämäläinen's race ended in an early accident Pykälistö brought the car home to finish 4th, equalling the team's best result. At the next round in Adelaide Hämäläinen would immediatedly break this record by finishing 2nd - the team's first ever podium in the series - in the first start while Pykälistö crashed out. However, in the second start Hämäläinen had a very ragged race and collided with multiple cars before being forced to retire, with Pykälistö also suffering another accident. In the first start at Brands Hatch Hämäläinen scored the first pole and win for the team as Pykälistö once again succumbed to driver error. In the second start the roles were reversed as Hämäläinen retired after an early accident but Pykälistö kept it on the road to finish 10th and grab a point for his team. At the first start in Austria Hämäläinen finished 3rd with Pykälistö a distant 19th. Hämäläinen finished 4th in the first start in USA while Pykälistö retired, however this ultimately meant nothing as the whole series collapsed before the weekend was over, leaving NRE an unconfirmed 4th in the team standings.

F3RWRS became the FIA Formula 3 Eurasian Championship for 2018, and NRE opted to concentrate their efforts on series under the AutoReject branding, selling off all the F3RWRS equipment they had.

GT-R World Championship

The team also fielded a Porsche 911 GT3-RSR at the 2016 GT-R WC Super GP for Sylvain Fabron and Paul Jenkins. Although they mostly dominated their class in the practice and qualifying sessions, a number of incidents in the race led to them finishing only 5th in their class and 18th overall.

Complete Motorsports results

RTCC

Season Car Class # Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Points TC
1998 Volvo I SIL DON COM ROC ZAN IMO HOC NOR OUL SNE THR CRO MAL MON BRA BIR ORA 29 =8th
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
91 Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Nathan Nurmester 13 35 4 22
92 Flag of Russia svg.png Nikolai Nurmovitsch 14 32 12 10
2015 Volvo M AUS SCO USA BEL JAP AUT 40 11th
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
91 Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Nathan Nurmester Ret 29 Ret 4 12 9 Ret Ret
Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Ryan Carlton 16 18 18 8
92 Flag of Russia svg.png Nikolai Nurmovitsch Ret 27 Ret 13 Ret Ret 20 17 19 19 15 18

F1RDS Winter Cup

Year Engine # Drivers Points DC
2015 Opel-Spiess 2.0L L4 DOHC 1 2 3
SUZ MOT FUJ
7 Flag of Finland.svg.png Tõnu Pykälistö 11 19 3 12 7th
8 Flag of Estonia svg.png Anu Võsu 5 8 23 11 10th
2016 VW-Cosworth 2.0L V6 1 2 3 4 5 6
SN1 SN2 LS1 LS2 LB1 LB2
7 Flag of Estonia svg.png Anu Võsu 2 13 5 10 5 1 50 1st
8 Flag of Germany svg.png Florian Grünewald Ret 11 12 23 26† 19 0 26th

F1RDS/AR 2.0 E

Year Engine # Drivers TC Pts
2015 Opel-Spiess 2.0L L4 DOHC AUS SME MON FRA CZE GBR GER BEL ITA NED 4th 107
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
7 Flag of Finland.svg.png Tõnu Pykälistö 8 1 6 10 4 16 8 6 7 8 17 17 7 12 8
8 Flag of Estonia svg.png Anu Võsu Ret 2 19 19 18 3 22 23 23 5
Flag of Finland.svg.png Tommi Hämäläinen 3 18 12 23 19
2016 VW-Cosworth 2.0L V6 ESP GBR ITA AUT TUR FRA GER NED ENG BEL CZE JAP 1st 254
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
7 Flag of Estonia svg.png Anu Võsu 3 9 2 4 20 17 5 3 1 11 Ret 6 1 6 1 Ret 6 Ret 1 12
8 Flag of Germany svg.png Florian Grünewald 23 14 24 21 13 22
Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Thomas Butler 14 2 2 9 5 5 4 1 3 12 13 Ret 3 16
2017 Cosworth 2.0L V6 ESP FRA AUT ITA GBR NED GER CZE 9th 60
F S F S F S F S F S F S F S F S
1 Flag of Finland svg.png Kyösti Pykälistö 12 15 10 Ret 4 7 23 17 14 9 12 22 26 21 6 3
2 Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Gregg Donnelly 11 9 5 12 22 22 12 6 20 11 2 12 21 23 14 13

F3RWRS

Year Chassis Engine # Drivers Points TC
2015 Dallara F3R15 Zytek ZT288 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 14th
AUS USA TUR MON GBR GER ESP ITA JPN SUR
91 Flag of Italy svg.png Enrico Molinaro 24 18
Flag of Finland.svg.png Jari Lappalainen 14 10
92 Flag of Sweden svg.png Ragnar Larsen 19 16 29
Albania.png Renato Bulku 4
191 Flag of Germany svg.png Stefan Kuntz Ret
Flag of Spain svg.png Diego Álvarez Torrente 25
192 Flag of Finland.svg.png Tommi Hämäläinen 21
2016 Dallara F3R16 Mugen-Honda MF316 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 25 19th
AUS GBR ITA FRA CAN GER NED BEL SMR JAP SUR
91 Flag of Sweden svg.png Ragnar Larsen 13 Ret 18 Ret 24 20 27 23 C
Flag of Andorra.svg.png Herberto Dominguez Ret 12 Ret Ret 28 26 Ret 21 C 8
92 Flag of Italy svg.png Oliviero Cinotti 18 17 25 17 34 30 37† 22 C DNQ 18 Ret 23 Ret 25 24 Ret C 6
2017 Jones 110 Mugen-Honda MF317 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 91 4th
HIG AUS GBR AUT USA JAP NED GER BEL MOR SUR
91 Flag of Finland.svg.png Tommi Hämäläinen Ret 2 27† 1 Ret 3 C 6 C C C C C C C C C C C
92 Flag of Finland.svg.png Markus-Petteri Pykälistö 4 Ret 24† Ret 10 19 C Ret C C C C C C C C C C C

F1RWRS/ARWS

Year Chassis Engine # Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 CC Pts
2017 NRE Type 01 Holden LSF1-17 AUS NSW GBR ITA AUT CAN SUS NUS GER NDS BEL MON MAR ARG JPN CHN 11th 2
35 Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Martin McFry 9 DNPQ DNPQ Ret 8 DNPQ Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 17 10 11 16
36 Flag of Switzerland svg.png Gregor Pascal Ret DNPQ DNPQ Ret Ret DNPQ DNQ Ret
Flag of Japan svg.png Barii Mori 10 Ret 9 Ret
Flag of Japan svg.png Shinobu Katayama DNQ 12† Ret Ret
2018 NRE Type 02 Holden LSWS-18 AUS NSW ITA MOR CAL USA CAN GBR AUT GER SCA BEL MON RSA BRA ARG JPN CHN 11th 4
19 Flag of South Africa svg.png Danny van Rijkens Ret 8 13 11 Ret Ret 5
Template:GBR Martin McFry 11 17† Ret 8 Ret 17 Ret Ret Ret
20 Ret
Template:AUT Marko Jantscher 5 12 Ret 9 10 Ret 15 Ret Ret Ret 10 Ret Ret 7 Ret EX
2019 NRE Type 02/02B BMW P92/19 AUS NSW KIN ITA MAR CAN 500 GBR AUT GER SCA BEL MON SAF BRA ARG JPN CHN 6th 25
17 Flag of Austria svg.png Marko Jantscher 6 Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 Ret Ret Ret 5 Ret Ret 9 6 Ret Ret 6 EX
Flag of Brazil svg.png Mineiro Ret
18 Flag of Italy svg.png Alessandro Lucarelli Ret 9 Ret 5 8 Ret Ret 9 7 6 Ret 5 4 5 5 4 Ret 4

* A pink background indicates drivers ineligible for points
* Season in progress
† Driver did not finish, but was classified for completing 90% or the race distance

ARWS Constructors
2019 Season ARWS Constructors
Aeroracing Blokkmonsta Euromotor Fusion Gillet ENB Jones Kamaha Kjellerup Lomas
Mecha MRT Nurminen Simpson USD Venturi Voeckler Vincent
Former ARWS Constructors
Acuri - AMR - ARC - ArrowTech - Autodynamics - Bangelia - Boxtel - Calinetic - CR - DGNgineering - Dofasco - FAT - Flying Fish - Foxdale - Gauthier - Hemogoblin - HRT - Horizon
IBR - JLD - Kingfisher - KQ - Lotus - MAN - Minardi - Mitie - Pacchia - Phoenix - Prospec - Revolution - Rosenforth - SOTL - Sunshine - Tassie - Tropico - Trueba - Virgin - West Cliff - ZimSport