no this is an oldish subject. theres talk of launching a 180hp version of the 172 by the end of this year in France and the french sites have got plenty of pics of twin centre exhaust cars etc. I dont know if this is true or hype, some of the Renault guys on this site can tell. In any case I think theyre just having a fun poke at he 206 (should have made it 181 bhp ..)
why would you be bothered by an alleged 8bhp - and I mean alleged, since a lot of 172/cups do not make anywhere near the alleged 172 bhp. ?? Now if there was a proper improvement - read 220+ bhp, suspension mods etc - that would be another matter altogether, but then that "cup" would have better performance than the heavier Mk2 V6 .. unlikely from a marketing perspective...