Photo: KSP Reportages
Arthur Dorison, Guillaume Bouzar and Rintaro Sato were the winners in French Formula 4’s penultimate round at Ledenon.
Having won the reversed-grid race in each of the first four rounds, this time Dorison converted pole position in race one into victory.
It was a lights-to-flag success, and Jules Roussel held second throughout but was gradually gapped by Dorison who had a 2.4-second gap at the end of the 20-lap race.
Championship leader Alexandre Munoz started third, and lost the position on lap two to Louis Iglesias. He tried getting back ahead on lap three, but they made contact.
Mounoz retired, and Iglesias dropped behind Rayan Caretti and Bouzar. On lap eight he was then overtaken by Montego Maassen, but finished the race 20th rather than sixth after being handed a 30s penalty. The race was light on overtaking.
Rafael Perard had reversed-grid pole for race two later on Saturday, ahead of race one retiree Sato and Malo Bolliet. Wet weather hit the track, and it led to plenty of opening lap drama due to tricky conditions.
Four drivers failed to make it to lap two, including crashers Roussel and Maassen, and the race had to be restarted. Green flag action began again on lap three, and Perard lasted one lap in the lead before Sato got past as Bouzar overtook Bolliet for third.
Bouzar got ahead of Perard on lap six, and took the lead on lap nine. Not long after Sato was relegated to third by Munoz, who had started eighth. Although it looked like his charge would continue, Bouzar’s pace was strong enough to claim his maiden win with a 2.55s gap.
Sato was a further 5.777s behind, just ahead of Perard and Iglesias. Dorison’s superb reversed-grid form in 2025 came to an end as he started 10th and finished 11th.
Race three began with Bolliet making his way from fourth to first ahead of Dorison, as fellow front row starter Roussel dropped to seventh. Dorison was relegated to fourth on lap two, then sixth. A safety car period interrupted his descent, but after that he retired.
At that point Sato, who had started ninth, was leading. He had climbed to sixth onlap one, gained two spots on lap three to make the podium then Louis Iglesias and Munoz. After his one lap in the lead, Iglesias quickly fell to 11th and only recovered one spot through the rest of the race.
Sato and Munoz pulled away from the rest of the field, with Caretti getting into third and holding several drivers off until he was overtaken by Bouzar on the last lap.
Roussel gained back one spot to finish sixth, and remains Munoz’s closest rival in the four-way title fight with one round to go.
Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Arthur Dorison 30m10.967s
2 Jules Roussel +2.399s
3 Rayan Caretti +6.087s
4 Guillaume Bouzar +6.763s
5 Montego Maassen +7.574s
6 Malo Bolliet +13.189s
7 Rafael Perard +15.037s
8 Matteo Giaccardi +15.245s
9 Romeo Leurs +15.907s
10 Hugo Herrouin +16.473s
Fastest lap: Dorison, 1m21.411s
Race 2 (18 laps)
1 Bouzar 1h01m25.688s
2 Alexandre Munoz +2.550s
3 Rintaro Sato +8.327s
4 Perard +8.669s
5 Louis Iglesias +9.222s
6 Caretti +9.895s
7 Leurs +11.320s
8 Bolliet +12.404s
9 Giaccardi +15.956s
10 Hugo Martiniello +18.057s
FL: Bouzar, 1m27.947s
Race 3 (21 laps)
1 Sato 30m26.968s
2 Munoz +2.490s
3 Bouzar +10.140s
4 Caretti +10.685s
5 Leurs +10.812s
6 Roussel +11.839s
7 Maassen +12.267s
8 Herrouin +13.692s
9 Giaccardi +14.308s
10 Iglesias +15.442s
FL: Munoz, 1m21.638s
Championship standings
1 Munoz 207 2 Roussel 180 3 Dorison 145 4 Caretti 137 5 Bouzar 106 6 Perard 80 7 Maassen 78 8 Iglesias 75 9 Bolliet 74 10 Sato 63