Home Formula 4French F4 Barter dominates first French F4 race at Spa

Barter dominates first French F4 race at Spa

by Roger Gascoigne

Photo: FFSA

Hugh Barter comfortably won French Formula 4 race one at Spa-Francorchamps, but won’t score points from it having raced at the track in Spanish F4 earlier this year.

The Australian jumped into the lead from pole and was never threatened as he quickly built up a gap to his pursuers, taking the flag over 3.5 seconds ahead of Alessandro Giusti who inherits the points for victory and reduces Barter’s championship lead.

Giusti held off a race-long challenge from Jeronimo Berrio, although the Colombian received a 30s post-race penalty in lieu of the prescribed stop-go for overtaking Giusti under yellow flags, demoting him to 20th.

Elliott Vayron took the final podium position after Berrio’s penalty, having passed front row starter Souta Arao on the Kemmel straight on the first lap. Red Bull Junior Team-backed Honda junior Arao ran wide on the exit of La Source on the first lap, losing momentum down the hill into Eau Rouge and losing out to Giusti and Berrio before Vayron drafted past.

Behind that leading group, Enzo Peugeot was one of the few to make progress up the order as he fought his way to fifth from ninth on the grid. He was followed home by Louis Pelet and Yuto Nomura, the second Honda junior having been demoted three places on the grid.

Pierre-Alexandre Provost lost out in the first corner melee on lap one and ended up stuck in the gravel trap at La Source, necessitating the race’s only safety car period.

Race result
Pos Driver Time
1 Hugh Barter 9 laps
2 Alessandro Giusti +3.541s
3 Elliott Vayron +4.494s
4 Souta Arao +4.613s
5 Enzo Peugeot +7.188s
6 Louis Pelet +8.263s
7 Yuto Nomura +8.925s
8 Romain Andriolo +12.477s
9 Lorens Lecertua +13.004s
10 Edgar Pierre +13.802s
11 Enzo Geraci +16.183s
12 Pol Lopez +19.091s
13 Leny Reveillere +21.344s
14 Valentino Mini +22.211s
15 Pablo Sarrazin +23.764s
16 Antoine Fernande +30.807s
17 Luciano Morano +31.946s
18 Amir Sayed +32.418s
19 Dario Cabanelas +32.682s
20 Jeronimo Berrio +33.066s
Ret Max Reis
Ret Enzo Richer
Ret Mateo Villagomez
Ret Pierre-Alexandre Provost
Fastest lap: Barter, 2m24.823s

Championship standings
1
Barter 161   2 Giusti 111   3 Arao 111   4 Vayron 102   5 Peugeot 58   6 Provost 49   7 Nomura 49   8 Berrio 46   9 Cabanelas 44   10 Geraci 32