Photo: ACI Sport
US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez left the first round of the E4 season at Paul Ricard with a strong points advantage after winning two out of three races.
His race three victory came from pole, and with two Prema drivers in his mirrors throughout. Sebastian Wheldon started alongside him on the front row, but Kean Nakamura Berta got past his team-mate into second place entering the race’s opening corner and then stuck with Gomez.
PHM Racing’s Reno Francot went off at the chicane on the Mistral Straight, and ended lap one in eighth behind Prema’s Sasha Bondarev, R-ace GP’s Alex Powell, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Maximilian Popov and US Racing’s Andrija Kostic.
Powell overtook Bondarev on lap two, and Kostic got ahead of Popov. At the end of lap four a last-corner dive almost sent Kostic into Bondarev, and he overtook him at the Mistral chicane on lap five with a switchback move that opened up the inside line for him. Popov tried passing Bondarev at Signes, which bunched up the group and meant Francot had to defend from Jenzer Motorsport’s Enea Frey. US’s Ary Bansal profited, finding a gap to get ahead of Frey at the penultimate corner.
Francot overtook Popov on lap seven, and at the last corner Frey reclaimed ninth from Bansal. They were squabbling again on lap 10, with Bansal attacking Frey before and after the Mistral chicane and getting a move done exiting Beausset.
On lap 12 it became a four-car group once more and Francot went off. After rejoining he was able to get past Bondarev, while also almost sending him off, and Bondarev braked very late for the Mistral chicane to then get back ahead.
Francot responded by going around the outside of him at Signes, as Frey also overtook Bansal. However that position then swapped around again at Bendor, and at the final corner Bondarev went way off.
That set up Popov for a move on lap 13, which he completed down the Mistral, as a gap immediately opened up to Francot. Bondarev came back at Popov around the outside through Signes and Beausset, then when Popov hit the brakes he lost out to Frey and Bansal too.
Real Racing Team’s Luca Viisoreanu tried to also overtake Popov at the final corner but instead spun him around. The points positions were set at that point, with Frey holding off Bansal to the finish including squeezing him on the run to the line.
Race results (16 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriel Gomez | US Racing | 34m06.763s |
| 2 | Kean Nakamura Berta | Prema | +1.277s |
| 3 | Sebastian Wheldon | Prema | +3.112s |
| 4 | Alex Powell | R-ace GP | +5.258s |
| 5 | Andrija Kostic | US Racing | +5.844s |
| 6 | Reno Francot | PHM Racing | +13.585s |
| 7 | Sasha Bondarev | Prema | +19.004s |
| 8 | Enea Frey | Jenzer Motorsport | +19.686s |
| 9 | Ary Bansal | US Racing | +19.703s |
| 10 | Luca Viisoreanu | Real Racing Team | +23.260s |
| 11 | Newman Chi | Prema | +24.641s |
| 12 | Alexander Ruta | Van Amersfoort Racing | +28.083s |
| 13 | Alexander Savinkov | R-ace GP | +28.744s |
| 14 | Guy Albag | R-ace GP | +29.445s |
| 15 | Teo Schropp | Jenzer Motorsport | +31.457s |
| 16 | Abdullah Kamel | AKM Motorsport | +32.639s |
| 17 | Bart Harrison | Jenzer Motorsport | +36.736s |
| 18 | Payton Westcott | Van Amersfoort Racing | +39.563s |
| 19 | Gaspar Benett | Zengo Motorsport | +52.660s |
| 20 | Ginevra Panzeri | AKM Motorsport | +53.059s |
| 21 | Kabir Anurag | US Racing | +1m06.895s |
| 22 | Salim Hanna Hernandez | Prema | +1m08.137s |
| 23 | Dante Vinci | Van Amersfoort Racing | +1m15.978s |
| 24 | Ludovico Busso | Viola Formula Racing | +1m18.395s |
| 25 | Bader Al Sulaiti | Jenzer Motorsport | +1m20.908s |
| 26 | Maximilian Popov | Van Amersfoort Racing | +4 laps |
| 27 | Andre Rodriguez | Van Amersfoort Racing | +4 laps |
| 28 | Evan Michelini | AKM Motorsport | +4 laps |
| Ret | Emily Cotty | R-ace GP | |
| Fastest lap: Gomez, 2m07.167s
Championship standings |
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