Photo: FFSA Academy
Caio Collet clinched the French Formula 4 title with a round to spare by taking his sixth and seventh wins of the year at Jerez.
The Brazilian protege of Nicolas Todt claimed pole position by half a second in qualifying over Adam Eteki, who only edged out series debutant and current South East Asia F4 leader Alessandro Ghiretti by 0.003s for a place on the front row.
In the first race, Collet gradually built an advantage of more than three seconds over Eteki, who lost second when he was given a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits. As he served the penalty at the end of the final lap, he was classified last and a lap down.
Collet’s closet championship rival Arthur Leclerc, who missed the pre-event testing on Thursday, inherited second after moving up from fifth to third at the start, withstanding pressure from Ghiretti in the closing stages. Theo Pourchaire was fourth ahead of Reshad de Gerus and Ulysse de Pauw.
In the reversed-grid race two, Collet went from 10th to sixth at the start, finishing inbetween his nearest rivals De Pauw and Leclerc.
He then dominated the finale, with the victory just enough to secure him the title regardless of where his rivals finished behind him. As champion, he will receive an offer to join the Renault Sport Academy for 2019.
Leclerc got ahead of Eteki for second at the start but struggled to keep up with Collet and was passed by Ghiretti at half-distance before ultimately slipping back to eighth.
Ghiretti was 13s behind Collet at the finish, with Esteban Muth taking third in front of De Gerus, Pierre-Louis Chovet, De Pauw and De Wilde.
Ahead of this weekend’s final round at Paul Ricard, De Pauw has moved two points ahead of Leclerc in the fight for the runner-up position, with De Wilde and Eteki 15 and 29 points away.
Brothers O’Neill and Esteban Muth finished one-two in race two, the former starting from pole and holding off his older brother, who worked his way up from fourth on the grid. Chovet, back in action after missing Magny-Cours, was third with De Wilde fourth.
Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Caio Collet 22m25.876s
2 Arthur Leclerc +5.750s
3 Alessandro Ghiretti +6.225s
4 Theo Pourchaire +8.457s
5 Reshad de Gerus +9.742s
6 Ulysse de Pauw +10.734s
7 Esteban Muth +11.673s
8 Ugo de Wilde +12.193s
9 Pierre-Louis Chovet +12.944s
10 O’Neill Muth +13.485s
Pole: Collet, 1m49.412s
Fastest lap: Collet, 1m51.288s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 O Muth 22m25.714s
2 E Muth +0.656s
3 Chovet +3.587s
4 de Wilde +4.413s
5 de Pauw +4.733s
6 Collet +5.238s
7 Leclerc +5.785s
8 Pourchaire +7.306s
9 Ghiretti +8.255s
10 de Gerus +8.888s
FL: E Muth, 1m51.093s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Collet 22m31.923s
2 Ghiretti +13.311s
3 E Muth +17.985s
4 De Gerus +18.253s
5 Chovet +19.355s
6 De Pauw +20.333s
7 De Wilde +21.671s
8 Leclerc +21.799s
9 O Muth +23.523s
10 Pourchaire +24.267s
P: Collet, 1m49.641s
FL: Collet, 1m51.552s
Championship Standings
1?Collet 270.5? ?2?De Pauw 196? ?3?Leclerc 194? ?4?De Wilde 181? ?5?Eteki 167? ?6?Chevet 135? ?7?E Muth 127.5? 8?Stuwie White 80? ?9?Nouet 66? ?10?Herrero 43