The 2024 French F4 Championship saw its final meeting of the season at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Many eyes are naturally on the duel between three drivers vying for the title: Yani Stevenheydens, Taito Kato and Jules Caranta, who finished the qualifying session in that very order.
The Japanese rider was at the top of the order for a long time, but the Belgian continued to push hard and dislodged his rival from first place at the very end of the session. As for the Frenchman, he certainly created a gap of 4 tenths on his pursuers, but was unable to worry the leading duo. Stevenheydens will therefore start from pole in Race 1 on Saturday morning, but Kato would do the same in Race 3 on Sunday morning thanks to a better 2nd lap, quicker by just… 2 thousandths.
The pleasant surprise of this qualifying session came from Irishman O’Grady, who improved his time on the very last lap to steal 4th place from Frenchman Augustin Bernier, who was also very fast. German Montego Maassen confirmed his competitiveness at the end of the FFSA Academy season with 6th place ahead of Frenchman Jules Roussel, a regular in the top-10 in qualifying. As at Spa-Francorchamps, Great Britain’s Gabriel Doyle-Parfait made it into the top-10 in 8th place ahead of Karel Schulz and Alexandre Munoz, who were delighted to start from the front row in Race 2 on the reverse grid principle.
The top-10 places were hotly contested, with Enzo Caldaras just 62 hundredths off the pace and Roméo Leurs less than a tenth off. In 13th place, Dylan Estre was ahead of three drivers who may have some regrets, as they are aiming for 4th place in the Championship: Andorran Frank Porte Ruiz, Franco-Thai Rayan Caretti and Luxembourger Chester Kieffer.
