The temperature was rather cool for the season, but the weather remained fine for the first official day of the sixth and penultimate round of the 2024 French F4 Championship, held on the Dijon-Prenois circuit in Burgundy.
Just edged out by Belgium’s Yani Stevenheydens in Free Practice on Friday morning, Japan’s Taito Kato turned the tables in Qualifying. On this fast and hilly 3800-metre track, the drivers slowly but surely built up their strength, taking care to warm up their tyres perfectly. It was midway through the session, around the seventh or eighth running lap, that the best times were set, notably Kato’s 1:16.883, which was never beaten.
Championship leader Stevenheydens came close on the following lap with a time of 1:16.971, 88 thousandths off the pace, just as the Japanese driver clocked another excellent 1:16.968, which also gave him the fastest of the second laps. Having already started first on one occasion at Lédenon, this was Taito Kato’s first double pole position of the season. It came at just the right time for Taito, who needs to score more points than his championship rivals Stevenheydens and Caranta if he is to keep his title hopes alive at Paul Ricard in October.
Several drivers returned to the pits to cool down their tyres in the hope of improving in the final minutes of the session, but few of them managed to do so. After a difficult meeting at Magny-Cours, Jules Roussel returned to the front at Dijon-Prenois with an excellent 3rd place, ahead of Augustin Bernier, who confirmed his ambitions, and Andorran Frank Porte Ruiz, a driver to keep an eye on.
Currently 2nd in the FFSA Academy Championship, Jules Caranta will have to make do with 6th place on the grid for Race 1. It has to be said that the gaps are extremely tight, with Germany’s Montego Maassen in 7th position, less than 4 tenths off the lead. 10th behind Canadian Jason Leung and Luxembourger Chester Kieffer, Dylan Estre will have the honour of starting from pole position in Race 2 thanks to the inverted grid principle.
Defined according to the second best timed laps of each driver, the starting grid for Race 3 will be slightly different from that of the first behind Kato and Stevenheydens, with Bernier 3rd ahead of Maassen, Caranta, Roussel and Porte Ruiz.
