Photo: KSP Reportages
There was little green flag action in the third French Formula 4 race at Ledenon, which was won by Enzo Peugeot.
The points leader made a strong start from pole to lead Kevin Foster, while Evan Giltaire rose from fifth to third before the safety car appeared.
Louis Schlesser had spun into the gravel at turn five, and a corner later Paul Alberto and Yani Stevenheydens had collided and gone into the turn six barriers. Joao Paulo Diaz Balesteiro also struck drama, having to pit for a new front wing at the end of lap one and dropping well over two minutes behind the front of the field.
The safety car released the field on lap five, and fifth-placed Max Reis was spun around then later crashed into by Leonardo Megna. Frank Porte-Ruiz broke his rear wing in a seperate incident, and also retiring were Gabriel Doyle-Parfait and Edgar Pierre.
The safety car had to come straight back out, and on lap seven the race was suspended entirely due to the lengthy recovery jobs taking place.
Initially that meant the results were taken from the end of lap five for a restart, but when race control eventually did decide to restart the race the action began from lap eight.
That took place behind the safety car, before the field were released to race each other again on lap nine.
The top three held position, and Romain Andriolo fell from fourth to sixth behind Hiyu Yamakoshi and Enzo Richer.
Tom Kalender was in seventh but went off at turn three and rejoined after an incident with Jason Leung, and then pitted to retire at the end of the penultimate lap. Karel Schulz dropped out of the top 10, and the race entirely, by beaching their car in the turn 12 gravel on the final lap while Finn Wiebelhaus and Balasteiro had an incident that is now under investigation.
Peugeot’s winning margin over Foster was 0.98 econds, with Giltaire a further 0.318s behind in third. There was a big gap to Yamakoshi in fourth, and Andriolo got back past Richer to finish fifth.
Race result (11 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enzo Peugeot | 28m55.803s |
| 2 | Kevin Foster | +0.980s |
| 3 | Evan Giltaire | +1.298s |
| 4 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | +3.586s |
| 5 | Romain Andriolo | +4.650s |
| 6 | Enzo Richer | +5.119s |
| 7 | Jason Leung | +7.484s |
| 8 | Adrien Closmenil | +7.706s |
| 9 | Garrett Berry | +9.348s |
| 10 | Andrei Duna | +10.029s |
| 11 | Pol Lopez | +10.660s |
| 12 | Finn Wiebelhaus | +10.967s |
| 13 | Joao Paulo Diaz Balesteiro | +11.525s |
| 14 | Luca Savu | +12.575s |
| 15 | Yaroslav Veselaho | +12.758s |
| 16 | Edouard Borgna | +14.091s |
| Ret | Karel Schulz | |
| Ret | Tom Kalender | |
| Ret | Max Reis | |
| Ret | Edgar Pierre | |
| Ret | Frank Porte Ruiz | |
| Ret | Gabriel Doyle-Parfait | |
| Ret | Leonardo Megna | |
| Ret | Paul Alberto | |
| Ret | Yani Stevenheydens | |
| Ret | Louis Schlesser | |
| Fastest lap: Giltaire, 1m21.925s
Championship standings |
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