Photo: KSP Reportages
Jules Roussel and Alexandre Munoz claimed the poles for French Formula 4’s round at Spa-Francorchamps.
After pre-event testing concluded on Friday morning, there was a half-hour practice session. Arthur Dorison was fastest at first, and traded top spot with Roussel initially.
Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Andy Consani then moved to the top with a 2m24.74s, which was soon beaten by a 2m24.335s from Hugo Herrouin.
Louis Iglesias was next to lead the way, bettering Herrouin by 0.013 seconds, and held top spot for a few minutes before Montego Maassen posted a 2m24.146s.
As practice’s second half began, Herrouin moved ahead by 0.043s and two laps later improved by another 0.012s. It took 10 minutes to make any more gains, but he remained in first place throughout and his final lap – a 2m24.02s – left him 0.12s ahead of Roussel.
Maassen was third, with championship leader Munoz 0.262s behind in fourth. Iglesias concluded practice in fifth, and a second covered the top 13 in the 30-car field.
After everyone on track had set a lap in the 30-minute qualifying session, Dorison led the way with a 2m26.781s. He improved to 2m24.492s on his next lap, and Malo Bolliet was just 0.053s slower than him. Iglesias was 0.314s behind in third, and Rafael Perard, Roussel and Sasha Milojkovic were also within a second of the pace.
Not benefiting from a slipstream as the first driver to cross the line soon hurt Dorison, who improved to 2m24.189s on his third flying lap but was shuffled down to 12th.
Roussel moved to the top, posting a 2m22.891s to lead Munoz by 0.172s. Iglesias, Matteo Giaccardi and Maassen were closely matched and within 0.5s of the new benchmark.
Munoz got within 0.076s of Roussel on his next lap, and Giaccardi and Maassen cut their gaps to under 0.2s in third and fourth. Rayan Caretti moved into fifth, and Dorison climbed a spot while Iglesias was demoted to seventh as he failed to improve.
As the session entered its second half, Munoz lowered the pace to 2m22.726s, edging Maassen by 0.158s. Iglesias improved in sixth and Perard got within a second of pole in 12th.
Few found more pace next time by, but Roussel lapped 0.147s off Munoz and Iglesias gained another place.
Munoz and Dorison then opted for a cooldown lap, while Bolliet rose from 13th to ninth. Dorison’s strategy worked, as on his next flying lap he took over ninth place by getting within half a second of Munoz. Rintaro Sato jumped seven positions to eighth, and Bolliet improved but was demoted to 11th.
With five minutes remaining, Munoz lapped 0.004s shy of his benchmark and when Roussel crossed the line he moved ahead by 0.095s. Herrouin went fourth fastest, and Dorison improved in seventh.
Maassen pitted with three minutes left, and was demoted to fourth by Sato. Bolliet in 12th was one of just two drivers to improve at session-end.
Drivers’ second-best laps set race three’s grid, and Munoz claimed pole by 0.143s over Roussel. Herrouin pipped Maassen and Iglesias to third.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Jules Roussel 2m22.631s
2 Alexandre Munoz +0.095s
3 Rintaro Sato +0.243s
4 Montego Maassen +0.253s
5 Hugo Herrouin +0.394s
6 Matteo Giaccardi +0.407s
7 Louis Iglesias +0.417s
8 Arthur Dorison +0.470s
9 Rayan Caretti +0.502s
10 Guillaume Bouzar +0.602s
Race 3 grid
1 Munoz 2m22.730s
2 Roussel +0.143s
3 Herrouin +0.329s
4 Maassen +0.360s
5 Iglesias +0.392s
6 Sato +0.434s
7 Dorison +0.474s
8 Giaccardi +0.572s
9 Caretti +0.608s
10 Romeo Leurs +0.646s