Frenchman Jules Caranta brought the thrilling Spa Francorchamps meeting to a victorious conclusion in Race 3, ahead of Belgium’s Yani Stevenheydens and Japan’s Taito Kato, who remains leader of an increasingly open French F4 Championship.
Four drivers gained a significant numerical and psychological advantage in Belgium, the host country for the third of seven events in the French F4 Championship run by the FFSA Academy. It was precisely these four young hopefuls who were in the top four positions at the finish of Race 3: Caranta ahead of Stevenheydens, Kato and Kieffer, although the provisional standings of the highly international French Championship reveal a different order…
Action in the field
Not all of the 25 drivers on the grid had opted for the same strategy when it came to managing their tyre quota. This undoubtedly had an influence on the constant duels that animated Race 3. The safety car period after just a few minutes of racing only served to tighten the positions between the drivers.
At the start, Yani Stevenheydens maintained his lead at the end of the race. But Jules Caranta made a daring overtake at Les Combes on the outside and took the lead. Just behind, an intense neck-and-neck battle began between Taito Kato and Luxembourg driver Chester Kieffer, and lasted right to the end! Dylan Estre got off to a good start, moving up from 8th to 5th place in the opening bends, but in spite of this he was the victim of two successive incidents behind him in the space of two bends, resulting in the retirements of Andorran driver Frank Porte Ruiz and Irishman Alex O’Grady. Hit once and then again, Estre finally spun and left the back of the pack with many regrets. Augustin Bernier regained his 5th place, while Jason Leung continued to make progress after an already well-controlled start.
First points for Munoz and Caldaras
At the front, Caranta resisted Stevenheydens’ pressure perfectly, until the safety car came out for the second time following a collision between Gabriel Doyle-Parfait and Arthur Dorison. With too little time to evacuate the two cars, the chequered flag fell before the race director could restart the drivers. This was Caranta’s second victory of 2024, which enabled him to close the gap on his rivals in the Championship. Behind Stevenheydens, Kato won his duel with Kieffer to complete the podium.
5th-placed Bernier had his best meeting of the season, keeping ahead of Rayan Caretti, who started from 10th position. Behind Leung in 7th place, Leonardo Megna rounded off a poor start to the weekend on a high note, having started 20th. For his second event in F4, Alexandre Munoz managed to score his first points by finishing 9th in a head to head with Enzo Caldaras, who had the honour of completing the top 10 ahead of Jules Roussel and Tom Le Brech.
> Race 3 standings
1 Jules Caranta (France) with 8 laps
2 Yani Stevenheydens (Belgium) at 0.292
3 Taito Kato (Japan) at 1.034
4 Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg) at 1.779
5 Augustin Bernier (France) at 1.910
6 Rayan Caretti (Thailand) at 2.308
7 Jason Leung (Canada) at 2.706
8 Leonardo Megna (Italy) at 3.365
9 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 4.424
10 Enzo Caldaras (France) at 5.953
11 Jules Roussel (France) at 6.421
12 Tom Le Brech (France) at 6.680
13 Karel Schulz (France) at 10.364
14 Edouard Borgna (France) at 11.454
15 Roméo Leurs (France) at 13.837
16 Paul Roques (France) at 14.945
17 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 16.595
18 Dylan Estre (France) at 17.792
19 Mathilda Paatz (Germany) at 18.190
20 Louis Schlesser (France) at 24.473
21 Arthur Dorison (France) with 4 laps
22 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait (Great Britain) with 4 laps
23 Alex O’Grady (Ireland) with 4 laps
24 Arjun Chheda (India) with 3 laps
25 Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra), retired on the 1st lap
FL: Kato in 2:23.977 (avg. 175.1 km)
> Provisional Championship standings after Spa Francorchamps
1 Kato 133 pts, 2 Stevenheydens 117 pts, 3 Caranta 115 pts, 4 Kieffer 101 pts, 5 Caretti 70 pts, 6 Bernier 39 pts, 7 Roussel 33 pts, 8 Porte Ruiz 27 pts, 9 Megna 24 pts, 10 O’Grady 22 pts, 11 Leung 21 pts, 12 Estre 13 pts, 13 Dorison and Doyle-Parfait 5 pts, 15 Maassen and Schulz 4 pts, 17 Munoz 2 pts, 18 Caldaras 1 pt.
> Next race on 26th-28th July in Germany at the Nürburgring.
