Photo: KSP
Louis Iglesias and Arthur Dorison claimed a pole position each for the French Formula 4 season finale at Le Mans having ended qualifying just 0.003 seconds apart.
Malo Bolliet had set the pace in practice on Friday morning, some 0.485s ahead of the next quickest driver, the championship leader Alex Munoz. Dorison was third, with Iglesias a second off in eighth and Munoz’s title rival Jules Roussel down in 16th.
Track limits infringements would dominate qualifying on the Bugatti layout. Iglesias was one of the cleaner drivers in this respect and his fastest lap of 1m37.418s set just past the halfway mark was legal and good enough to secure pole for race one.
Dorison went quicker than Iglesias when he crossed the line a few seconds later but that time would be deleted. He then fell shy by just 0.003s on his next attempt.
He would post two quicker laps – the best being a 1m37.244s after the chequered flag – but these too would not count. He also recorded two legal laps within four hundredths of his best, ensuring he secured pole for race three based on second fastest times.
Munoz also set two laps faster than that of Iglesias in the middle of the session but both would be deleted. He went on to set a time good enough for fourth, one place behind Roussel.
Roussel, who has a 27-point deficit to close in the championship, will start second for race three ahead of Iglesias and Munoz.
Qualifying 15th on debut was French-American driver Maverick McKenna, who has tested in USF Juniors this year with his karting team Jay Howard Driver Development, and was one of 12 semi-finalists in the FEED Racing shootout.
He wasn’t among the six drivers who proceeded to the final at Magny-Cours this week, where Yuvel Rosen succeeded Bolliet as the winner of a paid-for French F4 seat for 2026.
Israeli 18-year-old Rosen beat 16-year-old Swiss karter Mathys Sarua-Pictet, former stock car racer Troy Adams’ 14-year-old son Truly, and the French trio of Clement Outran (16), Mattheo Dauvergne (14) and Sacha Bouder (17) in the final.
Outran had come into the final as the most established of the sixtet, having come fifth in the 2024 IAME Euro and Benelux series on X30 Senior karts.
Rosen had raced Rotax Senior karts in central Europe in 2024, and made international outings this year.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Louis Iglesias 1m37.418s
2 Arthur Dorison +0.003s
3 Jules Roussel +0.077s
4 Alexander Munoz +0.165s
5 Rintaro Sato +0.214s
6 Rafael Perard +0.250s
7 Guillaume Bouzar +0.297s
8 Hugo Herrouin +0.462s
9 Matteo Giaccardi +0.470s
10 Malo Bolliet +0.541s
Race 3 grid
1 Dorison 1m37.453s
2 Roussel +0.098s
3 Iglesias +0.139s
4 Munoz +0.172s
5 Sato +0.278s
6 Bouzar +0.376s
7 Giaccardi +0.506s
8 Bolliet +0.573s
9 Perard +0.636s
10 Romeo Leurs +0.654s