Peugeot beats Giltaire in final-lap fight for French F4 victory at Misano

Photo: KSP Reportages

Enzo Peugeot won from pole in French Formula 4’s third race at Misano in Italy, with most of the action taking place behind the safety car.

Frank Porte Ruiz was spun out of 11th by Leonardo Megna and third-placed Romain Andriolo broke off the left endplate on Andrei Duna’s front wing with an agressive defence on lap one, then on lap two Yani Stevenheydens and Max Reis had an incident at turn four that led to Reis ending up in the gravel at the next corner.

The safety car came out as a result of that, and the lap five restart was short-lived as Hiyu Yamakoshi mounted the rear of Megna’s car and both were out on the spot.

Racing was neutralised for a second time until lap eight, with the top nine positions unchanged from the grid order. Finally there were was some overtaking, as Kevin Foster passed Edgar Pierre for fifth and Garrett Berry moved past Karel Schulz and Louis Schlesser into seventh.

On the next lap Duna fell out of fourth place as he mysteriously slowed then came to a stop on track, while Peugeot had to get defensive against Evan Giltaire.

Peugeot ran wide exiting the final corner on lap 10, the penultimate lap of the race, and he then cut turn one to stay ahead. But Giltaire did manage to get past, briefly, and they then ran side-by-side through the next corners.

A lock-up from Peugeot meant Giltaire moved into the lead again, and this time Peugeot drove into the back of him. The contact was light enough for Giltaire not to spin around, and he held off Peugeot until the penultimate corner.

Peugeot went off-track on the run to the corner, rejoined before the turn-in but cut across the inside kerbs to actually make the corner. That put him alongside Giltaire as they exited it, and Giltaire then ran wide and off-track.

Going into the final corner it was Peugeot, who led, and despite running way off as he exited the corner he still held on to win and build his points lead over his main title rival.

Foster got alongside Andriolo several times on the last lap but could not deny him third place, and Pierre pipped Berry to fifth by just 0.076 seconds.

Race result (11 laps)