Japan’s Taito Kato and Belgium’s Yani Stevenheydens were unable to separate themselves in the first two races at Paul Ricard, while Jules Caranta lost his remaining hope of winning the title despite another podium finish. Race 3 coming up…
The final Qualifying session pitted the season’s top three drivers against each other at the top of the order. Japan’s Taito Kato held the fastest time for a long time, but Belgium’s Yani Stevenheydens pushed hard right up to the end of the session to dislodge his rival from 1st place. Never far behind his two rivals, the Frenchman finished 3rd, while creating a gap of 4 tenths on his pursuers. But while Stevenheydens was happy to secure pole for Race 1, Kato took pole for Race 3 thanks to a best second lap that was just two thousandths quicker.
Race 1: The duel between the leaders keeps its promise
As soon as the lights went out, the duel between Stevenheydens and Kato resumed in earnest, with the two cars virtually side by side in the first few corners. Kato found himself in the lead at the end of the first lap, when the safety car entered the track following an incident at the rear of the field. Kato managed his position perfectly on the return of the green flag in front of Stevenheydens, under the eyes of Jules Caranta and Irishman O’Grady, who scored his best qualification of the season at Le Castellet. As the laps went by, Kato and Stevenheydens widened the gap on the rest of the field, with the Honda-supported driver managing to beat the RACB hopeful. This result is subject to an appeal by Yani Stevenheydens.
Despite pressure from O’Grady, Caranta completed the podium. Behind him, Dylan Estre was one of the driving forces of Race 1. After another excellent start and a sensational first lap, the Frenchman went on to pass Britain’s Gabriel Doyle-Parfait and then Frenchman Augustin Bernier on the final lap for 5th place. Andorran driver Frank Porte Ruiz also put in an impressive performance, moving up five places to take 8th place ahead of Germany’s Montego Maassen and French-Thai driver Rayan Caretti, who moved up four places. A race incident cost Jules Roussel, Karel Schulz and Alexandre Munoz the benefits of a good Qualifying session.
Race 2: First win for Munoz
Forced to wait until his 15th birthday to start his season after missing out on the opener at Nogaro, Alexandre Munoz made remarkable progress in 2024 and didn’t miss the opportunity to win for the very first time in F4. At Le Castellet, the young Frenchman had already taken the first step by Qualifying in the top 10 and used his pole position on the reverse grid in Race 2 to lead from start to finish. Alexandre was confident at the start and also managed the restart after the safety car appeared following an incident between Tom Le Brech and Arthur Dorison.
A magnificent duel took place for the podium, which saw Gabriel Doyle Parfait take the lead over Karel Schulz. Schulz made every effort to regain his place, before being caught by Montego Maassen on the final lap. The three Championship leaders stayed together, managing to claw back a few points overall. Taito Kato moved up to 5th ahead of Augustin Bernier, Yani Stevenheydens and Jules Caranta, who crossed swords with Rayan Caretti and Dylan Estre on the final lap. The latter two cars made contact. Caretti retired with a broken suspension, while Estre was able to restart after seeing Italian Leonardo Megna, who had moved up 12 places, snatch 8th place from him. O’Grady got off to a poor start and had to settle for 10th place. Luxembourger Chester Kieffer and Andorran Frank Porte Ruiz were forced to retire.
Continuation of the programme at Paul Ricard: Race 3, Sunday 6th October from 11:30 to 12:00
> Qualifying session: 1 Stevenheydens in 2:06.148, 2 Kato in 2:06.276, 3 Caranta in 2:06.625, 4 O’Grady in 2:07.074, 5 Bernier in 2:07.176, 6 Maassen in 2:07.314, 7 Roussel in 2:07.332, 8 Doyle-Parfait in 2:07.383, 9 Schulz in 2:07.424, 10 Munoz in 2:07.475, etc.
> Race 1 standings *
1 Taito Kato (Japan) on 10 laps
2 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) at 2.164
3 Jules Caranta (France) at 9.569
4 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) at 9.974
5 Dylan Estre (France) at 11.794
6 Augustin Bernier (France) at 12.072
7 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) at 13.867
8 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) at 15.439
9 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 15.632
10 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) at 16.776
11 Roméo Leurs (France) at 18.519
12 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 21.621
13 Louis Schlesser (France) at 21.778
14 Jules Roussel (France) at 22.321
15 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) at 22.753
16 Tom Le Brech (France) at 22.864
17 Edouard Borgna (France) at 24.852
18 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 25.727
19 Arjun Chheda (India) at 28.320
20 Paul Roques (France) at 29.414
21 Arthur Dorison (France) at 29.618
22 Lisa Billard (France) at 30.258
23 Jason Leung (Canada) at 31.680
24 Aleksandr Burdo (France) with 9 laps
25 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) with 5 laps
26 Karel Schulz (France) with 1 lap
27 Leonardo Megna (Italy) with 0 laps
FL: Stevenheydens in 2:06.825 (avg. 165.2 km/h)
* Subject to appeal by driver n°17 Yani Stevenheydens
> Race 2 standings
1 Alexandre Munoz (France) on 9 laps
2 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) at 2.696
3 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 3.054
4 Karel Schulz (France) at 3.703
5 Taito Kato (Japan) at 4.051
6 Augustin Bernier (France) at 5.789
7 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) at 7.035
8 Jules Caranta (France) at 7.603
9 Leonardo Megna (Italy) at 7.885
10 Dylan Estre (France) at 9.499
11 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) at 9.988
12 Jules Roussel (France) at 10.220
13 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 11.523
14 Jason Leung (Canada) at 12.073
15 Arjun Chheda (India) at 12.783
16 Roméo Leurs (France) at 14.875
17 Edouard Borgna (France) at 15.422
18 Lisa Billard (France) at 20.725
19 Aleksandr Burdo (France) at 33.836
20 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) with 8 laps
21 Paul Roques (France) with 8 laps
22 Louis Schlesser (France) with 8 laps
23 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) with 5 laps
24 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) with 1 lap
25 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) with 1 lap
26 Tom Le Brech (France) with 0 laps
27 Arthur Dorison (France) with 0 laps
FL: Maassen in 2:08.168 (avg. 163.5 km/h)
