The penultimate round of the 2024 French F4 Championship, at Dijon, may not be decisive, but the three main contenders for the title – Yani Stevenheydens, Jules Caranta and Taito Kato – cannot afford to make any mistakes.
Since the start of the season, there have been countless drivers who have excelled in this extremely high-level championship run by the FFSA Academy. The repeaters are constantly under pressure from talented young drivers, and it has always been difficult to make any predictions. No sooner had a contender for the final podium appeared to be gaining the upper hand over his rivals, than he quickly had to reconsider his position in the face of the immediate reactions of the chasing pack. The concept of the French F4 Championship is synonymous with sporting fairness, with drivers all in the same boat: the single-seaters are all identical and maintained by the FFSA Academy technical staff, who play an active part in the success of the discipline.
Duels expected at all levels
At Dijon, all the drivers will be setting out with clearly defined objectives. While some will be aiming to score points for the first time to justify their continued progress, others will be looking to celebrate their first podium finish, or even a success. As for the top-ranked drivers, they are all familiar with podium finishes. Belgian leader Yani Stevenheydens (216 points) has nine of them, including four wins. His pursuer, Frenchman Jules Caranta (207 points), has also won four times, with eight podium appearances. With a total of 192 points, Taito Kato’s mission will be to close the gap on the leading duo before a final duel scheduled for early October at Paul Ricard. His nine podium finishes, including two wins, speak in his favour.
Barring a dramatic turnaround in fortunes which would allow them to aim for the overall podium in the French F4 Championship, Luxembourg’s Chester Kieffer and Thailand’s Rayan Caretti will be battling it out for 4th place, which could also become the position of third best rookie. Stevenheydens is the only driver in the top three in the overall standings to repeat in the discipline. However, Kieffer and Caretti will have to watch out for Augustin Bernier, who has made significant progress over the last few races, and Frank Porte Ruiz, winner at Lédenon. Both the Frenchman and the Andorran can still reach the top five in the overall standings.
Previous events at Nogaro, Lédenon, Spa Francorchamps, Nürburgring and Magny-Cours have shown that many other drivers have the potential to challenge the top-ranked drivers in the overall standings. Italian Leonardo Megna, Jules Roussel, Irishman Alex O’Grady, Enzo Caldaras, German Montego Maassen, Canadian Jason Leung, Arthur Dorison, Karel Schulz, Dylan Estre and Briton Gabriel Doyle-Parfait are just a few examples. That’s a lot of drivers to keep an eye on on the fast Dijon-Prenois track, which has become famous since the wheel-to-wheel F1 duel between Gilles Villeneuve and René Arnoux 45 years ago! As well as the Qualifying session, slipstreaming could play an important role on 13th, 14th and 15th September. Tom Le Brech, Roméo Leurs, Louis Schlesser, Paul Roques and Arjun Chheda will be trying to make the most of it to take advantage of good positions on the starting grid and try to score points, as the very young Alexandre Munoz and Edouard Borgna have already been able to do.
It should be noted that two women are entered in Dijon, Germany’s Mathilda Paatz and France’s Lisa Billard, and that a new driver will be making his F4 debut at Dijon, France’s Pablo Riccobono Bello.
> Dijon 2024 F4 programme
Friday 13 September: Free Practice (10:30 – 11:00) and Qualifying (15:20 – 15:45)
Saturday 14 September: Race 1 (09:40 – 10:10) and Race 2 (16:05 – 16:35)
Sunday 15 September: Race 3 (09:45 – 10:15)
> Race duration: 20 minutes + 1 lap
> Mygale single-seater, Renault turbo engine, Pirelli tyres, 100% renewable Repsol fuel.
> French F4 Championship standings (after five races)
1 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) 216 points
2 Jules Caranta (France) 207 points
3 Taito Kato (Japan) 192 points
4 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) 109 points
5 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) 97 points
6 Augustin Bernier (France) 74 points
7 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) 68 points
8 Leonardo Megna (Italy) 48 points
9 Jules Roussel (France) 45 points
10 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) 44 points
11 Enzo Caldaras (France) 33 points
12 Montego Maassen (Germany) 26 points
13 Jason Leung (Canada) 25 points
14 Arthur Dorison (France) 21 points
15 Karel Schulz (France) 20 points
15 Dylan Estre (France) 20 points
17 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) 17 points
18 Alexandre Munoz (France) 3 points
19 Edouard Borgna (France) 1 point
Tom Le Brech (France)
Roméo Leurs (France)
Louis Schlesser (France)
Mathilda Paatz (Germany)
Paul Roques (France)
Arjun Chheda (India)
Follow the races live on the ffsaacademy.org website and social networks
