The opening weekend of the 2008 World Series by Renault season carries a new air of excitement and expectation, as 26 drivers line up eager to claim the first win for the latest Dallara-designed car.
Fittingly, Monza's hallowed acres provide the backdrop for two races which should, if testing is to be believed, be hotly contested. Pre-season sessions in Valencia and Barcelona have given drivers, engineers and mechanics the opportunity to get to know the new package, which has been directly inspired by Renault's R27
F1 machine, but do not provide a clear pecking order.
Those drivers with some experience of the category naturally showed well in testing, with the likes of Giedo van der Garde (P1 Motorsport), Marco Bonanomi (Red Devil Team Comtec), Robert Wickens (Carlin Motorsport), Guillaume Moreau (KTR), Bertrand Baguette (International Draco Racing) and Julien Jousse (Tech 1 Racing) all up there with the leaders, while two winners carrying over from last year - Mikhail Aleshin (Carlin Motorsport) and Salvador Duran (Interwetten.com) - are also likely to be in the mix.
The rookies, however, ensured that they enjoyed a share of the limelight during the winter, with Charles Pic perhaps the best of the bunch. Joining reigning champions Tech 1 Racing, the teenager posted the third fastest time in Barcelona behind Wickens and Baguette and showed few signs of succumbing to the pressure of stepping up from last season's Formula Renault Eurocup.
Mario Romancini (Epsilon Euskadi) is another newcomer to have hit the ground running, adapting well to the World Series despite coming from lower rungs of the ladder in South America, and cause a shock or two as the year progresses.
![Charles Pic - Tech 1 Racing [pic credit: Renault Sport]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/399809.jpg)
