Australian driver Barter, who took pole position and won Race 1, doubled his tally by winning Race 3. Provost and Giusti brought to eight the number of drivers to have reached the podium at Nogaro during the opening round of the French F4 Championship.
At the FFSA Academy, the indicators are green after the successful launch of this new season of the FIA-certified French F4 Championship, as explained by Christophe Lollier, National Technical Director. “After two difficult seasons due to the Covid crisis, we are happy and satisfied to have a large field with 24 cars and 11 nationalities at the start. I am pleasantly surprised by the very small gaps between the drivers, proof that the field is homogeneous. Many of the drivers in the top ten at Nogaro have great potential and I think we will see some great battles for the top places in each race. Equipped with the Pirelli tyres that have already proved their worth in 2021, the second generation Mygale that we now use is very efficient and educational. It’s a great challenge for the drivers to try to get the measure of this new single-seater. The preparation of the cars has been carefully done in our FFSA Academy premises and we have not experienced any problems, so the sporting equality has been respected. I’m already looking forward to Pau on the street circuit that none of the drivers know. It promises to be exciting to watch...”
Barter takes over in Race 3
Hugh Barter certainly didn’t choose to repeat in the F4 Academy to make up the numbers. The Australian was the strong man of this first meeting. “It was an incredible weekend for me. It was important to get a double pole position, which allowed me to achieve my goal of winning at least two races. As in the first race, I got a good start in Race 3. Afterwards, Pierre-Alexandre Provost never let me rest, but I was able to keep up a good pace until the end. Using the two new tyres that we have at our disposal during the weekend in Race 3 was, in my case, a good solution.”
This year, the drivers have six tyres to use as they wish, which has led to different strategies depending on the starting positions of each driver. The two Frenchmen who accompanied Barter on the podium also kept their two tyres for this last race of the Easter weekend. “After my good Qualifying, I was a bit disappointed to be so close to the podium in Race 1 and I was determined to finish well and get some significant points. The settings I set up proved to be effective and I was able to take 2nd place, while finishing very close to Barter,” admitted Pierre-Alexandre Provost.
Alessandro Giusti finished the Nogaro race in style, climbing to 3rd place on the podium, but his points haul was not as good as expected. “When I look at the times I set in Friday’s practice, I was obviously disappointed to be 5th in the Qualifying session due to a problem. I’m only 5th in the provisional standings and I hope I can do better at the next event in May in Pau.”
Elliott Vayron was overtaken by Japanese driver Souta Arao on the first lap, but managed to recover his 4th place afterwards. Edgar Pierre was rewarded for his attacking race by a return to 6th position after some good overtaking, even though he started in 10th position. Lorens Lecertua from Belgium and Dario Cabanelas from Switzerland finished 7th and 8th respectively. Romain Andriolo finished 9th and ended a weekend that started with difficulty in Qualifying on a positive note. Some hazards caused the chasing pack of Enzo Peugeot, Enzo Geraci and the German Max Reis to implode. Only 19th at the start, Louis Pelet made his presence felt with a comeback to 11th position, sandwiched between the Japanese Yuto Nomura, and Leny Réveillère.
Finally, we should highlight the excellent performance of the new 100% renewable biofuel supplied by Repsol. Through the Academy, the FFSA confirms its desire to lead French motor sport towards carbon neutrality by 2050.
> Ranking of Race 3
1 Hugh Barter (Australia) in 15 laps
2 Pierre-Alexandre Provost (France) at 0″613
3 Alessandro Giusti (France) at 3″653
4 Elliott Vayron (France) at 6″944
5 Souta Arao (Japan) at 7″231
6 Edgar Pierre (France) at 15″829
7 Lorens Lecertua (Belgium) at 19″207
8 Dario Cabanelas (Switzerland) at 23″723
9 Romain Andriolo (France) at 25″198
10 Yuto Nomura (Japan) at 25″349
11 Louis Pelet (France) at 26″200
12 Leny Réveillère (France) at 34″064
13 Enzo Peugeot (France) at 35″195
14 Amir Sayed (India) at 35″657
15 Valentino Mini (Panama) at 35″907
16 Jeronimo Berrio (Colombia) at 37″526
17 Luciano Morano (France) at 39″398
18 Enzo Richer (France) at 50″462
19 Enzo Geraci (France) at 51″118
20 Pol Lopez Gutierrez (Andorra) at 56″730
21 Max Reis (Germany) at 59″249
22 Pablo Sarrazin (France) at 1’03″051
23 Antoine Fernande (France) at 1’05″638
24 Mateo Villagomez (Ecuador) at 1’08″231
FL: Hugh Barter in 1’28″989 (average speed 147.0 km/h)
> French F4 FIA Championship (provisional)
1 Barter (AUS) 55 pts, 2 Provost (FRA) 30 pts, 3 Arao (JPN) 29 pts, 4 Vayron (FRA) 28 pts, 5 Giusti (FRA) 27 pts, 6 Nomura (JPN) 23 pts, 7 Lecertua (BEL) 18 pts, 8 Peugeot (FRA) and Geraci (FRA) 16 pts, 10 Cabanelas (CHE) 12 pts, 11 Pierre (FRA) 9 pts, 12 Andriolo (FRA) 2 pts
