Taito Kato converted his pole position into victory in Race 1 by controlling Yani Stevenheydens. Kevin Estre won Race 2, while Jules Caranta, 3rd behind Montego Maassen, scored important points in the overall F4 standings.
For its return to the Dijon-Prenois circuit, the French F4 Championship enjoyed two intense first days, with a particularly hotly contested Qualifying session on Friday and two very interesting first races the following day. The title is still up for grabs, with three drivers still neck and neck. Ranked 3rd when he arrived in Burgundy, Japan’s Taito Kato immediately showed his ambitions by taking a magnificent pole position ahead of the Championship leader, Belgium’s Yani Stevenheydens. Frenchman Jules Caranta was the least successful, finishing 6th behind his compatriots Jules Roussel and Augustin Bernier, with Andorran Frank Porte Ruiz 5th.
Race 1: Taito Kato from start to finish
Trained at the Honda Racing School in Suzuka, Kato put in a perfect Race 1: an excellent start from first place, a best lap at an average speed of 177 kph and leadership maintained from start to finish. Faced with his rival’s performance, Stevenheydens limited his risk-taking. Seeing the gap to the chasing pack, the Belgian secured 2nd place while conserving his tyres as much as possible. Andorran driver Frank Ruiz moved up from 5th to 3rd place, adding another podium to his list of achievements by keeping Jules Roussel in his wake throughout the race.
For 5th place, Jules Caranta got the better of Augustin Bernier and Dylan Estre, who had made an excellent start to the race. Estre then had to battle it out with Germany’s Montego Maassen. In the end it was Maassen who came out on top to finish 7th. Behind him, another duel pitted Rayan Caretti against Canadian Jason Leung and Luxembourger Chester Kieffer. Caretti made the difference and Leung dropped back to 14th because of a track limit penalty. Kieffer completed the top 10 ahead of Briton Gabriel Doyle-Parfait, Frenchman Karel Schulz and Roméo Leurs, another French driver.
Race 2: First win for Dylan Estre
Drama struck right from the start when Augustin Bernier and Championship leader Yani Stevenheydens collided, while Chester Kieffer had just surprised poleman Dylan Estre. The safety car held the drivers back for a few laps. On the restart, Estre tried to regain the lead at the end of the straight after an intense head to head fight. Kieffer was forced to run off the track and plummeted down the order, while Estre fared better in 4th position.
Jules Caranta took advantage of the situation to finish the first lap in front of Jason Leung and Frank Porte Ruiz. The battle for the podium had only just begun. Estre then went on the attack, overtaking these three drivers and cruising to victory. Then it was Montego Maassen’s turn. With the fastest lap of the race, he reached 2nd position after a final pass on Caranta with two laps to go. Tyre management and the strategy chosen by each driver had a major impact on the final ranking.
4th-placed Jason Leung scored his best result of the season. Rayan Caretti made a remarkable recovery from 12th to 5th place, ahead of Porte Ruiz. Gabriel Doyle-Parfait enjoyed a fine attacking run to finish 7th ahead of Jules Roussel, Italian Leonardo Megna and Germany’s Mathilda Paatz, who finished in the top 10 for the first time in F4 with the FFSA Academy. Taito Kato, who opted to keep his tyres fresh for Race 3, could only manage 11th ahead of the unfortunate Kieffer, the second fastest driver on track.
Continuation of the Dijon programme: Race 3, Sunday 15th September from 09:45 to 10:15
> Qualifying session: 1 Kato in 1:16.883, 2 Stevenheydens in 1:16.971, 3 Roussel in 1:17.042, 4 Bernier in 1:17.063, 5 Porte Ruiz in 1:17.110, 6 Caranta in 1:17.170, 7 Maassen in 1:17.263, 8 Leung in 1:17.327, 9 Kieffer in 1:17.334, 10 Estre in 1:17.351, etc.
> Race 1 standings
1 Taito Kato (Japan) with 15 laps
2 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) at 3.523
3 Jules Roussel (France) at 6.760
4 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) at 7.277
5 Jules Caranta (France) at 8.315
6 Augustin Bernier (France) at 12.993
7 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 13.130
8 Dylan Estre (France) at 15.693
9 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) at 16.285
10 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) at 17.198
11 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) at 19.265
12 Karel Schulz (France) at 19.800
13 Roméo Leurs (France) at 21.350
14 Jason Leung (Canada) at 21.443
15 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 22.703
16 Arthur Dorison (France) at 23.781
17 Lisa Billard (France) at 25.324
18 Leonardo Megna (Italy) at 26.202
19 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 27.012
20 Edouard Borgna (France) at 27.677
21 Louis Schlesser (France) at 27.921
22 Pablo Riccobono Bello (France) at 28.685
23 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) at 32.338
24 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) with 1 lap
25 Tom Le Brech (France) with 0 laps
26 Paul Roques (France) with 0 laps
FL: Kato in 1:17.285 (avg. 177.0 km/h)
> Race 2 standings
1 Dylan Estre (France) with 14 laps
2 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 0.791
3 Jules Caranta (France) at 2.194
4 Jason Leung (Canada) at 2.648
5 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) at 7.834
6 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) at 10.585
7 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) at 11.339
8 Jules Roussel (France) at 11.826
9 Leonardo Megna (Italy) at 12.618
10 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) at 13.307
11 Taito Kato (Japan) at 13.357
12 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) at 14.091
13 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 14.860
14 Tom Le Brech (France) at 15.286
15 Arthur Dorison (France) at 16.231
16 Edouard Borgna (France) at 16.620
17 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) at 18.528
18 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 18.589
19 Roméo Leurs (France) at 19.492
20 Karel Schulz (France) at 21.057
21 Paul Roques (France) at 44.459
22 Louis Schlesser (France) with 13 laps
23 Lisa Billard (France) with 11 laps
24 Pablo Riccobono Bello (France) with 10 laps
25 Augustin Bernier (France) with 0 laps
26 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) with 0 laps
FL: Maassen in 1:17.832 (avg. 175.7 km/h)
