Photo: KSP Reportages
Yani Stevenheydens claimed two pole positions in French Formula 4 qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps.
Friday’s track action began with a half-hour test session, with Taito Kato setting the pace. A 2m23.788s lap put him 0.071 seconds ahead of Chester Kieffer on the timesheet, with Stevenheydens 0.193s behind.
Less than two-and-a-half hours later was free practice, which was also a half-hour session, and Frank Porte Ruiz set a 2m24.072s to go fastest by 0.104s over Kato. Jules Caranta, Karel Schulz and Stevenheydens were 0.158s, 0.228s and 0.283s behind respectively, and Kieffer was the only other driver within a second of the pace in sixth place.
Qualifying took place in the afternoon, and Stevenheydens led Kato by 0.175s after the first laps. There were 13 drivers who had recorded a laptime before red flags waved due to Montego Maassen hitting the tyre wall at turn 17.
After a lengthy break the session was restarted, and after the second flying laps had been set it was Gabriel Doyle-Parfait who was on top with a 2m41.200s.
Stevenheydens returned to first place with his next lap, setting a 2m39.629s to go fastest by 0.78s over Kieffer. He found even more pace two laps later, but the gap between the top two closed to 0.138s as Stevenheydens improved to 2m39.458s.
Kieffer took over at the top on his sixth lap, setting a 2m39.357s, but Stevenheydens had backed off and next time around he was on it again and made a huge gain to lower the pace to 2m38.415s. Kieffer also broke the 2m39s barrier but was 0.253s slower than Stevenheydens.
Just before the clock hit zero Caranta dropped to fourth as his fastest lap was deleted, but after the chequered flag he and Stevenheydens improved. The latter set a 2m38.356s to take pole, and Caranta got within 0.19s of him to qualify second. Kieffer and Kato and Augustin Bernier ended the session in third, fourth and fifth, and Frank Porte Ruiz improved on his final lap to qualify sixth.
Drivers’ second-best laptimes set the grid for race three, and Stevenheydens secured pole by an even bigger margin of 0.636s over Caranta, with an idential top five order.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Yani Stevenheydens 2m38.356s
2 Jules Caranta +0.190s
3 Chester Kieffer +0.312s
4 Taito Kato +0.433s
5 Augustin Bernier +1.387s
6 Frank Porte Ruiz +1.473s
7 Alex O’Grady +1.549s
8 Rayan Caretti +1.756s
9 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait +1.885s
10 Jules Roussel +1.917s
Race 3 grid
1 Stevenheydens 2m38.415s
2 Caranta +0.636s
3 Kieffer +0.942s
4 Kato +1.245s
5 Bernier +1.513s
6 Roussel +1.897s
7 Porte Ruiz +1.900s
8 Dylan Estre +2.160s
9 O’Grady +2.218s
10 Caretti +2.260s