Photo: FFSA Academy
Two of French Formula 4’s Junior classification drivers picked up wins on the championship’s visit to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, as Hadrien David held on to his championship lead.
David was on pole for the opening race of the weekend, and led Nicky Hays prior to an early race safety car. Shortly after action resumed the top two clashed, handing control of the racer to Sauber-backed Stuart White and Isack Hadjar.
Junior driver Hadjar snatched the lead from White on the last lap of the race, having been seventh on the opening lap, and the 14-year-old took his first overall podium with victory. White finished a frustrated second, just ahead of another Junior driver and world karting champion Victor Bernier.
Mikkel Grundtvig, missing Danish F4’s latest round to compete, started on pole in the reversed grid race but was swiftly passed by Ugo Gazil. From fourth on the grid it was the third Junior car of Paul-Adrien Pallot that had the momentum though, and he beat Gazil to take his first overall top 10 finish with victory the day after his 15th birthday.
Gillian Henrion completed the podium ahead of Sten van der Henst, who like Pallot has had a poor start to the season, and Pierre-Francois Duriani. David extended his points lead in sixth, while Grundtvig sank outside of the points to 10th.
The leading pair in the championship looked back on form in the final race, with David and Reshad de Gerus engaging in a race-long battle with Hays.
De Gerus failed to factor in the first two races, and only qualified fifth for the final race of the weekend. He led by the end of the opening lap though, and swapped first place with David on multiple occasions as the race progressed.
David looked to have the win after taking the lead on the penultimate lap, but de Gerus lined up a move at the Bus Stop chicane on the final lap and pulled out across the finish line to take victory by 0.091 seconds. Hays was just a few tenths behind in third place.
Volant Winfield winner Jules Mettetal had his strongest showing of the season in fourth, little over half a second off the race winner.
Results round-up
Race 1 (8 laps)
1 Isack Hadjar 22m53.160s
2 Stuart White +0.740s
3 Victor Bernier +0.871s
4 Sten van der Henst +1.123s
5 Evan Spenle +1.502s
6 Pierre-Francois Duriani +2.659s
7 Ugo Gazil +4.708s
8 Paul-Adrien Pallot +5.404s
9 Gillian Henrion +5.778s
10 Mikkel Grundtvig +7.127s
Pole: Hadrien David, 2m33.908s
Fastest lap: Hadjar, 2m34.948s
Race 2 (9 laps)
1 Pallot 23m40.307s
2 Gazil +0.705s
3 Henrion +2.569s
4 van der Henst +2.705s
5 Duriani +2.974s
6 David +3.276s
7 Bernier +3.444s
8 White +4.348s
9 Nicky Hays +4.747s
10 Grundtvig +6.456s
FL: Hays, 2m35.932s
Race 3 (9 laps)
1 Reshad de Gerus 24m41.193s
2 David +0.091s
3 Hays +0.331s
4 Jules Mettetal +0.542s
5 Spenle +2.968s
6 Henrion +5.209s
7 Hadjar +5.616s
8 Pallot +13.458s
9 Enzo Valente +14.507s
10 Duriani +14.783s
P: David, 2m33.989s
FL: Hays, 2m36.758s
Championship standings
1 David 127? ?2?de Gerus 118? ?3 White 85? ?4 Henrion 80? ?5?Valente 69? ?6?Hays 52? ?7?Gazil 51? ?8?Spenle 44? ?9?Van der Henst 41? ?10?Mettetal 31
Junior standings? ?1 Hadjar 146? ?2 Bernier 129? ?3 Pallot 109