Rain reshuffled the cards in Race 3, won by Britain’s Doyle Parfait. Overall, Japan’s Kato scored the most points, but we’ll have to wait for the result of an appeal to definitively name the 2024 Champion.
The 2024 French F4 Championship, run by the FFSA Academy, enjoyed an incredibly intense season, which will be remembered for its extremely high standard of driving. There was a lot at stake in the final race held from October 4th to 6th at Le Castellet, which gave rise to incessant battles, both in the dry on Saturday and in the rain in Race 3 on Sunday morning. The lowering of the chequered flag was not enough to fix the ranking after some final duels, and we had to wait for the decisions of the college of stewards to identify the winner. As for the final classification of the Championship, it remains provisional.
Race 3: Doyle Parfait wins in difficult conditions
The FFSA Academy mechanics worked hard on Sunday morning to fit the 27 single-seaters with the rain tyres they needed to cope with the weather, which was completely different from the previous three days. The officials decided to start the race behind the safety car, given the amount of water on the track. At the green flag, poleman Taito Kato immediately found himself under pressure from Yani Stevenheydens. Their duel benefited Jules Caranta, who took the lead after the first few laps. Very fast in the rain, Dylan Estre and Gabriel Doyle Parfait joined the battle for victory.
The lap-by-lap action continued to evolve as a number of cars overtook, sometimes outside the limits of the track, leading to investigations by the race directors. In the end, Britain’s Doyle Parfait emerged in the lead ahead of France’s Estre. Japan’s Kato, who was having more difficulty, dropped down the order, while Belgium’s Stevenheydens overtook France’s Caranta for 3rd place. A little further back, Frenchman Augustin Bernier showed himself to be solid, while controlling the excellent comeback of his compatriot Alexandre Munoz in 6th position. On the last lap, Andorran driver Frank Porte Ruiz got the better of Germany’s Montego Maassen and crossed the finish line in 7th place, with Frenchman Jules Roussel doing the same to Kato.
However, a number of race incidents changed the outcome of Race 3. The two leaders were handed a five-second penalty (track limit), but their lead over the rest of the field enabled Doyle Parfait to take his first F4 victory and Estre to put in another top-class performance after demonstrating his talent in the rain. Belgian Yani Stevenheydens was penalised by 10 seconds and dropped back to 11th.
Jules Caranta regained 3rd place ahead of Bernier, Munoz, Porte Ruiz, Maassen, Roussel, Kato and Rayan Caretti, who took 10th place. Taito Kato’s points tally rose to 280, compared with 274 for Yani Stevenheydens. However, with the standings for Race 1 still subject to appeal, the title of French F4 Champion won by the Japanese driver at Paul Ricard has yet to be confirmed.
Behind this duo, the positions are definitive with Jules Caranta 3rd in the Championship ahead of four drivers who finished neck and neck: Chester Kieffer, Augustin Bernier, Rayan Caretti and Frank Porte Ruiz.
> Race 3 standings
1 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) with 9 laps
2 Dylan Estre (France) at 2.541
3 Jules Caranta (France) at 10.677
4 Augustin Bernier (France) at 12.620
5 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 13.540
6 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) at 13.791
7 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 14.618
8 Jules Roussel (France) at 14.941
9 Taito Kato (Japan) at 15.026
10 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) at 15.598
11 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) at 17.487
12 Karel Schulz (France) at 18.369
13 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 19.096
14 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) at 19.636
15 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) at 22.535
16 Leonardo Megna (Italy) at 23.125
17 Arthur Dorison (France) at 23.457
18 Louis Schlesser (France) at 32.914
19 Roméo Leurs (France) at 35.561
20 Tom Le Brech (France) at 38.547
21 Edouard Borgna (France) at 39.772
22 Jason Leung (Canada) at 40.277
23 Paul Roques (France) at 55.640
24 Lisa Billard (France) at 1:05.125
25 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) at 1:14.717
26 Chheda Arjun (India) at 1:20.414
27 Burdo Aleksandr (France) with 8 laps
FL: Kato in 2:29.565 (avg. 140.1 km/h)
> Championship standings after Paul Ricard (subject to appeal)
1 Kato 280 pts, 2 Stevenheydens 274 pts, 3 Caranta 266 pts, 4 Kieffer 116 pts, 5 Bernier 116 pts, 6 Caretti 111 pts, 7 Porte Ruiz 111 pts, 8 Maassen 79 pts, 9 Estre 69 pts, 10 Roussel 62 pts, 11 Doyle-Parfait 62 pts, 12 O’Grady 56 pts, 13 Megna 48 pts, 14 Caldaras 35 pts, 15 Leung 33 pts, 16 Schulz 28 pts, 17 Munoz 28 pts, 18 Dorison 21 pts, 19 Borgna 1 pt.
