Photo: KSP Reportages
Ethan Jeff-Hall, points leader in entry-level sportscar series Ginetta Junior, earned a FEED Racing France shootout spot en route to winning last weekend’s Rotax Max Challenge International Trophy.
The annual shootout, organised by 1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Lemarie, uses first-generation Formula 4 cars and awards a French F4 seat to its winner.
Last year Jeff-Hall won the RMC Int. Trophy as a rookie on Rotax Senior karts, and this year has dovetailed cars with karts. The 15-year-old has won five races so far in Ginetta Junior, and at Le Mans last weekend won the RMC Int. Trophy again.
The Sam Pollitt Racing driver came second in his qualifying group to Knud Nielsen, the fastest driver overall, and they were the drivers to beat in the heats too with Jeff-Hall winning three and Nielsen victorious in two. Kraft Motorsport’s Lewis Gilbert and RM Concept’s Nolan Lemeray also took two heat wins each.
Dan Holland Racing’s Matthew Higgins passed Jeff-Hall to win superheat A, and Gilbert edged DHR’s Macauley Bishop in superheat B and Lemeray beat Tom Billout in a photo finish by 0.062s for the superheat C win.
The combined results from all the preliminary races put Jeff-Hall on pole, but more signifcantly earned him his place in the final of FEED’s 2024 shootout.
Gilbert almost drove straight into the side of Jeff-Hall at the start of the final, but after bouncing over the turn one kerbs Jeff-Hall stayed ahead.
Lemeray got into second, then a big battle on lap three resulted in Higgins taking the position and Jeff-Hall breaking 1.6s clear. he was untouchable thereon, while Gilbert returned to second on lap six and DHR’s Jayden Thien demoted Higgins to fourth on lap 11 of 16. Bishop finished fifth after Tom Billout got a five-second penalty for causing an incident.
DHR’s Jacob Ashcroft started on pole for the Rotax Junior final after being the only driver to win two heats and finishing just behind Bouvin Power’s Ties Van Wijk and SPR’s Lewis Goff in superheat A.
There was an opening corner pile-up that eliminated karters near the back, and Dauvergne initially applied pressure on Ashcroft.
Van Wijk got into second on lap two, then passed Ashcroft a lap later. Before he had a chance to fight back, Goff came through in a move that sent Ashcroft onto the grass and down to sixth.
That also handed Van Wijk a one-second gap up front, which he had extended to 3.962s by the chequered flag.
Cameron Nelson and Luka Scelles chased Goff for second, with Nelson trading places with Goff twice on lap seven, and they finished in formation. Aschroft ended his weekend in 10th.
Results round-up
Rotax Senior final (16 laps)
1 Ethan Jeff-Hall Sam Pollitt Racing 14m28.815s
2 Lewis Gilbert Kraft Motorsport +1.494s
3 Jayden Thien Dan Holland Racing +4.278s
4 Matthew Higgins Dan Holland Racing +4.700s
5 Macauley Bishop Dan Holland Racing +5.102s
6 Titouan Lescalie +5.913s
7 Simon Perigny +6.422s
8 Callum Bradshaw Strawberry Racing +7.599s
9 Tom Billout +9.858s
10 Mitch Heijnert +11.035s
Rotax Junior final (16 laps)
1 Ties Van Wijk Bouvin Power 14m50.039s
2 Lewis Goff Sam Pollitt Racing +3.962s
3 Cameron Nelson Dan Holland Racing +4.097s
4 Luka Scelles +4.279s
5 Boaz Maximov Bouvin POwer +4.763s
6 Oscar Goudchaux RLS Kart +6.551s
7 Kaiden Higgins Dream Racing +9.878s
8 Bran Vanderveken +11.013s
9 Casper Nissen RS Competition +11.138s
10 Jacob Ashcroft Dan Holland Racing +11.518s