At the French F4 Championship in Lédenon, Chester Kieffer and Frank Porte Ruiz did not miss the opportunity to take their first single-seater victories. The Luxembourger led Race 1 from start to finish, before the Andorran followed suit in the second.
The south of France is enjoying warm, sunny weather this Ascension weekend, and the festivities got underway in perfect weather conditions on the Gard circuit. It all started with a magnificent pole position by Chester Kieffer on Friday. Many drivers opted to take to the pits midway through the session to cool down their tyres, and it all came down to the final minutes. Behind the Luxembourger, Japan’s Taito Kato won his place on the front row in Race 1 ahead of Jules Caranta and Jules Roussel.
Race 1: Kieffer unperturbed by Kato
Nothing could stop Chester Kieffer from achieving his goal in the first race of the meeting on Saturday morning: not the hill start specific to Lédenon, not the exit of the safety car shortly after the halfway point, and certainly not his rivals who were pressing in his wake. 2nd from start to finish, Taito Kato gave it his all, but the Luxembourger drove at a very high pace, even setting the fastest time on the final lap of the race! Belgian Yani Stevenheydens got off to an excellent start, immediately moving up from 7th to 4th place, then continued to push hard and passed Jules Caranta on the second lap, before securing 3rd place on the podium ahead of the Frenchman.
Starting better than Jules Roussel, Rayan Caretti and Augustin Bernier spent a long time in 5th and 6th positions. Caretti held on to his place until the end, while Roussel managed to regain the advantage over Bernier. Arthur Dorison, 15th on the grid, put in a superb attacking run to come back to 9th in the slipstream of Andorran Frank Porte Ruiz, two places up on his Qualifying position. Canadian Jason Leung took 10th place. The Irish driver Alex O’Grady and the German Montego Maassen didn’t do as well.
Race 2: Porte Ruiz holds off Stevenheydens
The inverted grid in Race 2 for the top 10 in Qualifying meant that Frank Porte Ruiz was able to start from pole position on Saturday afternoon, again in bright sunshine. He showed no hesitation when the lights went out and took the lead in the triple left at Lédenon, followed by Yani Stevenheydens who took off like a cannonball from the outer second row. Montego Maassen lost three places and only finished the first lap in 5th position behind Alex O’Grady and Rayan Caretti, who also managed to overtake Augustin Bernier.
On the second lap, a tangle between Arthur Dorison and Briton Gabriel Doyle-Parfait led to the safety car coming out. Shortly after the restart, Maassen was overtaken by four cars and found himself out of the points. It must be said that the leaders of the Qualifying session showed their speed, such as Taito Kato, Jules Caranta, who set the fastest lap in the race, and Chester Kieffer. These three drivers all gained a place at the expense of Augustin Bernier.
At the front, Porte Ruiz made no mistakes despite the pressure from Stevenheydens and won the race in style. Behind him, Caretti made several attempts to get the better of O’Grady, but to no avail, leaving the podium to the Irishman. Kato finished 5th ahead of Caranta, Kieffer and Bernier. Karel Schulz gained no less than 11 places to finish 9th ahead of Dylan Estre. It was a more difficult race for Jules Roussel, however.
Continuation of the programme at Lédenon: Race 3, Sunday 12th May from 09:10 to 09:40
> Qualifying session: 1 Kieffer in 1:20.001, 2 Kato in 1:20.085, 3 Caranta in 1:20.127, 4 Roussel in 1:20.264, 5 Caretti in 1:20.433, 6 Bernier in 1:20.460, 7 Stevenheydens in 1:20.463, 8 O’Grady in 1:20.475, 9 Maassen in 1:20.559, 10 Porte Ruiz in 1:20.594, etc.
> Race 1 standings
1 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) with 15 laps
2 Taito Kato (Japan) at 1.456
3 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) at 1.753
4 Jules Caranta (France) at 2.102
5 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) at 4.143
6 Jules Roussel (France) at 4.707
7 Augustin Bernier (France) at 5.162
8 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) at 5.461
9 Arthur Dorison (France) at 6.081
10 Jason Leung (Canada) at 8.744
11 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) at 8.914
12 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 9.316
13 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) at 9.623
14 Karel Schulz (France) at 10.353
15 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 11.568
16 Leonardo Megna (Italy) at 11.642
17 Louis Schlesser (France) at 11.772
18 Roméo Leurs (France) at 14.967
19 Edouard Borgna (France) at 15.987
20 Paul Roques (France) at 16.549
21 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) at 17.463
22 Tom Le Brech (France) with 11 laps
23 Arjun Chheda (India) with 5 laps
24 Dylan Estre (France) with 1 lap
25 Alexandre Munoz (France) with 1 lap
FL: Kieffer in 1:19.829 (avg. 142.3 kph)
> Race 2 standings
1 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra) with 14 laps
2 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) at 2.063
3 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) at 3.751
4 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) at 4.483
5 Taito Kato (Japan) at 4.936
6 Jules Caranta (France) at 5.179
7 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) at 6.881
8 Augustin Bernier (France) at 7.956
9 Karel Schulz (France) at 11.742
10 Dylan Estre (France) at 12.261
11 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 12.988
12 Jason Leung (Canada) at 15.496
13 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 15.747
14 Leonardo Megna (Italy) at 16.398
15 Jules Roussel (France) at 16.957
16 Louis Schlesser (France) at 20.440
17 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) at 20.760
18 Tom Le Brech (France) at 24.065
19 Edouard Borgna (France) at 25.508
20 Arjun Chheda (India) at 27.750
21 Paul Roques (France) at 32.431
21 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 58.730
23 Roméo Leurs (France) at 1:21.193
24 Arthur Dorison (France) with 1 lap
25 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) with 1 lap
FL: Caranta in 1:20.423 (avg. 141.2 kph)
