It was the first season for the new Dallara T12 chassis, which featured a new, 530 bhp (400 kW) V8 engine supplied by British firm Zytek Motorsport.
[1] The car also featured a new gearbox developed by Ricardo and a Drag Reduction System similar to the one first used in the 2011 Formula One season.
[2] Robin Frijns won the championship in his first season of competition, becoming the first driver since Robert Kubica in 2005 to win the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in his debut year.
[4] Twelve of the thirteen teams that competed in 2011 submitted entries, while Mofaz Racing withdrew after failing to acquire the requisite funds to continue in the series.
[7] In August 2011, series organisers had announced that the championship was due to visit Russia and Brazil during the 2012 season.