Home Formula 4French F4 Esteban Masson earns fifth French F4 win at Paul Ricard

Esteban Masson earns fifth French F4 win at Paul Ricard

by Ida Wood

Photo: KSP Reportages

Esteban Masson led home Alessandro Giusti in French Formula 4’s third Paul Ricard race.

The pair shared the front row, but Giusti lost his second place early on and had to fight to reclaim it from points leader Maceo Capietto.

Once back in second he outpaced Masson to close in on the leader, but the gap between the pair then grew at the end of the 11-lap race as Masson pushed to claim his fifth win.

Capietto looked set for third place until the final lap when Hugh Barter slipped by, meaning Capietto’s championship lead over Masson has been reduced to 11 points with three races to go.

Daniel Ligier finished a lonely fifth, while Noah Andy led home Owen Tangavelou in sixth. Andy recieved a warning flag for driving standards during the race.

Enzo Geraci passed Dario Cabanelas for eighth late on, while the guesting Louis Pelet rounded out the top 10.

Pierre-Alexandre Provost and Gael Julien damaged each other with an incident at turn seven that led to Julien retiring and Provost going a lap down, while Romain Andiolo finished over a minute behind Masson after copping a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.

Elliott Vayron, the winner of race two, was forced to pit early on and was a lapped 17th as the last finisher.

Race results (11 laps)
Pos Driver Time
1 Esteban Masson
2 Alessandro Giusti +1.737s
3 Maceo Capietto +6.181s
4 Hugh Barter +6.448s
5 Daniel Ligier +9.482s
6 Noah Andy +15.918s
7 Owen Tangavelou +16.511s
8 Enzo Geraci +18.925s
9 Dario Cabanelas +21.892s
10 Louis Pelet +33.413s
11 Luciano Morano +41.987s
12 Thanapongpan Sutomno +44.541s
13 Enzo Richer +50.786s
14 Angelina Favario +51.114s
15 Romain Andriolo +1m03.559s
16 Pierre-Alexandre Provost +1 lap
17 Elliott Vayron +1 lap
Ret Gael Julien
Ret Paul Jerome
Fastest lap: Giusti, 2m08.617s

Championship standings
1
Capietto 245   2 Masson 234   3 Barter 179   4 Ligier 178   5 Tangavelou 145   6 Julien 130   7 Giusti 110   8 Cabanelas 83   9 Geraci 45   10 Andy 43