Hubert made to wait as Gounon is given Ledenon win

Photo: FFSA/DPPI

Anthoine Hubert thought he had secured the French F4 Championship with victory in the first race of the weekend at Ledenon, only to be penalised for his defence of the lead from chief rival Jules Gounon.

Starting from pole position, Hubert came under attack from Gounon at the first corner but kept hold of the lead for the duration, winning by 0.748 seconds. The stewards took issue however with the way in which he defended at the start, giving him a 30 second time penalty that dropped him to 11th in the results.

Felix Hirsiger made a good start to move up to third. He challenged Gounon initially before falling into the clutches of Tristan Viidas, but the Anglo-Swiss driver managed to hold on to his place, which became second with Hubert’s penalty.

Matevos Isaakyan finished in fourth ahead of Marco de Peretti and?Dennis Anoschin. Neal van Vaerenbergh started fourth but gradually slipped back over the course of the race, finishing seventh. Paul Hokfelt took eighth on his series debut by passing Tom Le Coq, while Remy Deguffroy?took tenth and the reverse grid pole for race two.

Race results