Photo: KSP Reportages
Yani Stevenheydens won the French Formula 4 title in a dramatic decider at Paul Ricard.
Free practice and qualifying took place on Friday, with Taito Kato comfortably leading the way in former. He set a 2m07.884s to go fastest by 0.386 seconds over Stevenheydens, with everyone else more than a second off the pace. The gap between the top three was the same as between third and 18th.
Stevenheydens got the better of Kato in qualifying, setting a 2m06.148s to earn race one pole by 0.0128s. Jules Caranta and Alex O’Grady were 0.477s and 0.926s behind in third and fourth.
However on second-best laptimes it was Kato who earned pole for race three, a 2m06.290s putting him just 0.002s ahead of Stevenheydens at the top of the timesheet. Caranta was third again, trailing by 0.684s, and Augustin Bernier was 0.894s off the pace in fourth.
The top 26 were covered by 2.347s, while the debuting Alexandr Burdo was a huge 9.063s slower than Stevenheydens.
Kato overtook Stevenheydens on the opening lap of race one and never looked back, building a gap of 2.164s over the 10-lap race to take the championship lead on victory countback. Caranta could not stay in touch with the top two since his mirrors were filled by O’Grady for most of the race.
Dylan Estre worked his way up to fifth, climbing from 12th to seventh on lap one then passing Gabriel Doyle-Parfait on lap five. On the final lap he overtook Bernier too.
Alexandre Munoz had reversed-grid pole for race two and, having not finished any higher than ninth this season, converted it into victory.
He successfully held off Karel Schulz’s attack into turn one then pulled away before the safety car came out later in the lap due to Arthur Dorison and Tom Le Brech colliding.
Racing resumed on lap five and weaving down the pit straight to get his tyres back up to temperature helped him to create a gap up front yet again. He was 1.6s clear by the end of the lap, as a four-car battle for second occurred behind and Kato fought hard with Caranta for sixth.
Doyle-Parfait remarkably managed to overtake Schulz with a broken front wing, and held his ground while Schulz and Montego Maassen forced each other into mistakes behind. Maasen got his move done on the last lap.
Bernier’s penalty for overtaking outside of the track limits meant Stevenheydens finished sixth, sandwiched between title rivals Kato and Caranta.
Race three on Sunday took place in soaking conditions, and the safety car led the field through lap one. When racing got underway Stevenheydens almost went into the back of Kato, then at turn five dived down his inside. Kato went off to avoid a collision, and Caranta passed both to lead. Estre, who started eighth, spun down the order but got going again.
Kato ended lap two in fourth behind Doyle-Parfait, who then missed turn three and rejoined with a 3.6s lead. That earned him a five-second penalty, but he was soon seven seconds up the road.
On lap five Estre passed Kato at turn one (with Kato then spinning and having his title hopes end) and pulled off an amazing double move on Caranta and Stevenheydens at the last corner for second. He got Doyle-Parfait’s lead down to under five seconds in threacherous conditions, and the on-the-road winner’s weaving to the line shrank his margin further to guarantee Estre victory. Stevenheydens became champion in a distant third.
Results round-up
Race 1 (10 laps)
1 Taito Kato 22m58.798s
2 Yani Stevenheydens +2.164s
3 Jules Caranta +9.569s
4 Alex O’Grady +9.974s
5 Dylan Estre +11.794s
6 Augustin Bernier +12.072s
7 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait +13.867s
8 Frank Porte Ruiz +15.439s
9 Montego Maassen +15.632s
10 Rayan Caretti +16.776s
Pole: Stevenheydens, 2m06.148s
Fastest lap: Stevenheydens, 2m06.825s
Race 2 (9 laps)
1 Alexandre Munoz 23m37.608s
2 Doyle-Parfait +2.696s
3 Maassen +3.054s
4 Karel Schulz +3.703s
5 Kato +4.051s
6 Stevenheydens +7.035s
7 Caranta +7.603s
8 Leonardo Megna +7.885s
9 Estre +9.499s
10 O’Grady +9.988s
FL: Maassen, 2m08.168s
Race 3 (9 laps)
1 Estre
2 Doyle-Parfait +2.459s
3 Stevenheydens +9.946s
4 Caranta +13.136s
5 Bernier +15.079s
6 Munoz +15.999s
7 Porte Ruiz +16.250s
8 Maassen +17.077s
9 Jules Roussel +17.400s
10 Kato +17.485s
P: Kato, 2m06.290s
FL: Estre, 2m29.565s
Championship standings
1 Stevenheydens 291 2 Kato 279 3 Caranta 264 4 Kieffer 116 5 Bernier 110 6 Caretti 110 7 Porte Ruiz 109 8 Maassen 77 9 Estre 75 10 Roussel 60