After Augustin Bernier’s pole position in the dry, Frenchman Jules Caranta and Belgian Yani Stevenheydens made the most of the rainy conditions the following day to share the first two races of the meeting.
Setting the fastest time of 2:02.032 on a totally dry track in Friday’s Qualifying session, Augustin Bernier was on the inside of the front row of the grid for Race 1 with Andorran driver Frank Porte Ruiz alongside him, while Belgian Yani Stevenheydens and Frenchman Jules Caranta shared the second row. On the Eifel mountain range, the weather had become more autumnal than summery on Saturday, with rain and fog for Race 1 and Race 2. On a track with little grip, race incidents multiplied and the hierarchy changed frequently during the fourth round of the French F4 Championship run by the FFSA Academy.
Jules Caranta dominant in Race 1
What a turnaround! Right from the start of the race, several drivers overtook poleman Augustin Bernier and it was Yani Stevenheydens who took the lead at the end of the first lap ahead of Japan’s Taito Kato, Andorran Frank Porte Ruiz, Frenchman Jules Caranta and Luxembourger Chester Kieffer. From a promising 5th on the grid, Arthur Dorison found himself in trouble after contact and lost his chances of a good result. Caranta quickly demonstrated his ease in these difficult conditions and took the lead. Kato and Stevenheydens suddenly lost places, while the pack was making good progress. Rayan Caretti, who started 13th, showed himself to be impressive, setting the fastest lap of the race and making a fast comeback on the leaders. His neck-and-neck battle with Kieffer ended with the two cars touching and the Luxembourger retiring with a puncture.
Porte Ruiz, who was also dragged off the track at the start of the race, spared no effort to recover. While Caranta was dominant at the front of the race with a lead of almost six seconds over Caretti, Porte Ruiz completed the podium ahead of Briton Gabriel Doyle-Parfait, who confirmed his ease on wet tyres after starting 18th! Stevenheydens salvaged 5th place ahead of Italy’s Leonardo Megna, who excelled in Race 1. Jules Roussel kept Kato behind him right to the end. The last points in the top 10 went to Frenchman Enzo Caldaras and Irishman Alex O’Grady, at the expense of Augustin Bernier and Dylan Estre.
Stevenheydens takes his revenge in Race 2
Following the principle of the inverted grid for the top 10 in the Qualifying session, Frenchman Enzo Caldaras took pole position for Race 2 ahead of his compatriot Jules Roussel and German Montego Maassen. But as early as Turn 1, the latter two got into a tangle and started off very far back. The safety car quickly re-entered the track following this incident and the restart was not favourable to Thai driver Rayan Caretti, who fell back several places. The Luxembourger Chester Kieffer passed Caldaras to take the lead. Stevenheydens, who had been very incisive from the start, did the same, before taking the lead of the race and winning unchallenged despite damaging his front wing in a collision.
The duel for 2nd place between Caldaras and Kieffer turned to the advantage of the Frenchman, especially as the Luxembourger made a mistake when he tried to resist. During this very lively race, Irishman Alex O’Grady claimed another podium this season after gaining eight places. 4th-placed Kato scored important points in the Championship. Estre drove perfectly to come 5th ahead of Caranta, who was less at ease than in Race 1, and Augustin Bernier. Thanks to a magnificent finish, Edouard Borgna snatched 8th place, his first F4 Academy point. Leonardo Megna finished a creditable 9th ahead of Frank Porte Ruiz.
The rest of the programme at the Nürburgring: Race 3, Sunday 28th July from 10:05 to 10:35
> Qualifying session: 1 Bernier in 2:02.032, 2 Porte Ruiz in 2:02.146, 3 Stevenheydens in 2:02.172, 4 Caranta in 2:02.232, 5 Dorison in 2:02.407, 6 Kato in 2:02.477, 7 Kieffer in 2:02.480, 8 Maassen in 2:02.520, 9 Roussel in 2:02.527, 10 Caldaras in 2:02.625, etc.
> Race 1 standings
1 Jules Caranta (France) with 10 laps
2 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) at 5.918
3 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) at 9.967
4 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) at 10.619
5 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) at 14.486
6 Leonardo Megna (Italy) at 18.288
7 Jules Roussel (France) at 20.437
8 Taito Kato (Japan) at 24.419
9 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 25.761
10 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) at 28.203
11 Augustin Bernier (France) at 30.060
12 Dylan Estre (France) at 30.537
13 Roméo Leurs (France) at 31.656
14 Karel Schulz (France) at 35.256
15 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 37.019
16 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 38.448
17 Arthur Dorison (France) at 47.430
18 Edouard Borgna (France) at 50.838
19 Tom Le Brech (France) at 52.559
20 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) at 53.735
21 Louis Schlesser (France) at 1:02.819
22 Paul Roques (France) at 1:06.302
23 Arjun Chheda (India) at 1:08.813
24 Jason Leung (Canada) at 1:14.863
25 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) with 3 laps
FL: Caretti in 2:20.216 (avg. 132.1 km/h)
> Race 2 standings
1 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) with 9 laps
2 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 5.675
3 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) at 6.401
4 Taito Kato (Japan) at 7.403
5 Dylan Estre (France) at 8.386
6 Jules Caranta (France) at 10.526
7 Augustin Bernier (France) at 13.641
8 Edouard Borgna (France) at 14.874
9 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 15.836
10 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) at 16.813
11 Leonardo Megna (Italy) at 18.648
12 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) at 19.783
13 Jason Leung (Canada) at 21.171
14 Karel Schulz (France) at 22.383
15 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) at 22.442
16 Arthur Dorison (France) at 23.409
17 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 23.696
18 Roméo Leurs (France) at 25.126
19 Louis Schlesser (France) at 31.807
20 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) at 32.407
21 Arjun Chheda (India) at 34.679
22 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) at 36.443
23 Tom Le Brech (France) at 37.421
24 Jules Roussel (France) at 1:07.735
25 Paul Roques (France) with 7 laps
FL: Estre in 2:23.435 (avg. 129.2 km/h)
Photo © KSP / Gruppe C
