Already on the top step of the podium at Nogaro, Alexandre Munoz in Race 1 and Arthur Dorison in Race 2 won again at the second round of the French F4 Championship on the fast Dijon circuit.
After encountering difficult and changeable weather conditions during the Easter Cup at Nogaro, the drivers benefited from more pleasant conditions for the first few days of the competition. Alex Munoz, who arrived in Burgundy in the championship leader’s bib, got the meeting off to a perfect start with a magnificent pole position on a perfectly dry track. Germany’s Montego Maassen was 2nd, ahead of Jules Roussel, Rafaël Perard and Louis Iglesias.
Race 1: Alex Munoz from start to finish
As you’d expect on the spectacular Dijon track, there was a lot going on in Race 1, but more in the middle of the field than at the front. In the leading group, the positions remained broadly the same, as the safety car came out twice. Alex Munoz drove a faultless race and held on to his lead from the first to the last lap, setting the fastest lap in the process. Behind him, Jules Roussel got the better of Germany’s Montego Maassen from the start of the race. The two drivers kept a close eye on each other, finishing in that order in 2nd and 3rd places ahead of Rafaël Perard and Louis Iglesias, who secured important championship points.
Guillaume Bouzar was initially overtaken by a number of drivers, but as Race 1 wore on he came back into the game. In particular, he won his duel with Malo Bolliet, but both drivers then had to give way to a brilliant Rayan Caretti, who started 14th and finished 6th. Forced to retire, Arthur Dorison and Hugo Herrouin lost their places in the top 10, which was completed by Romeo Leurs and Rintaro Sato in 9th and 10th places.
Race 2: Arthur Dorison wins solo
With each driver entitled to two sets of Pirelli tyres for the whole of the competition, under free management, different strategies were put in place for this race, which featured an inverted grid for the top 10 in the Qualifying session. As he had done at Nogaro, Arthur Dorison made the most of his advantage by winning again from 1st place. The young French hopeful managed to hold off Malo Bolliet in the opening laps, before irreversibly extending his lead. Even the one safety car period didn’t trouble the leader in the slightest. To take 2nd place, Bolliet put himself out of the way of a very lively group comprising several drivers.
Louis Iglesias had taken advantage of the first few minutes of the race to move into 3rd place by getting the better of Guillaume Bouzar and Hugo Herrouin. Alex Munoz again set the fastest lap and quickly made up places, before engaging in a superb duel with Rintaro Sato. Munoz prevailed, but not before trying to dislodge Iglesias from the third step of the podium. Rayan Caretti made another fine comeback to finish 7th between Bouzar and Herrouin. Montego Maassen kept his starting place, 9th, ahead of Rafaël Perard. The latter was battling for a top three finish before losing places. Due to a difficult start, Jules Roussel was unable to increase his points tally, finishing 11th ahead of Andy Consani.
Two new successes for Lisa Billard in the Women’s category
Lisa Billard came close to scoring a point in Race 1, finishing 11th, and then 13th in Race 2, in the middle of a field of 30 F4 Academy cars. She confirmed her potential, and twice finished on the top step of the podium in the women’s category. In the first confrontation, Dutchwoman Annabelle Brian lost precious places on the first lap, before moving up the order with Jade Jacquet in her wake, then joining Lisa Billard on the podium.
In Race 2, the top three was in the same order. After Héloïse Goldberg in Race 1, it was Sofia Zanfari’s turn to finish 4th in the next race, while Angelina Proenca had a day to forget.
Continuation of the programme in Dijon: Race 3 and podium, Sunday 11th May from 09:45 to 10:30
> Qualifying session: 1 Munoz 1:16.560, 2 Maassen 1:16.623, 3 Roussel 1:16.763, 4 Perard 1:16.812, 5 Iglesias 1:16.975, 6 Bouzar 1:16.986, 7 Bolliet 1:17.021, 8 Herrouin 1:17.061, 9 Dorison 1:17.068, 10 Sato 1:17.181, etc.
> Race 1 standings
1 Alexandre Munoz (France) with 18 laps
2 Jules Roussel (France) at 1.666
3 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 2.157
4 Rafaël Perard (France) at 2.627
5 Louis Iglesias (France) at 3.940
6 Rayan Caretti (France) at 4.703
7 Guillaume Bouzar (France) at 6.522
8 Malo Bolliet (France) at 6.969
9 Roméo Leurs (France) at 7.221
10 Rintaro Sato (Japan) at 9.014
11 (F-P1) Lisa Billard (France) at 9.380
12 Mattéo Giaccardi (Monaco) at 9.570
13 Andy Consani (France) at 10.374
14 Thomas Senecloze (France) at 11.961
15 Hugo Martiniello (France) at 13.098
16 Pablo Riccobono Bello (France) at 14.298
17 Sasha Milojkovic (Australia) at 15.123
18 (F-P2) Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 17.495
19 (F-P3) Jade Jacquet (France) at 18.059
20 Pierre Devos (France) at 21.062
21 (F-P4) Héloïse Goldberg (France) at 23.635
22 Niccolo Pirri (Italy) at 45.612
23 Zhelin Shen (China) with 17 laps
24 Nicolas Pasquier (France) with 14 laps
25 Hugo Herrouin (France) with 12 laps
26 Paul Roques (France) with 12 laps
27 (F-P5) Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) with 9 laps
28 Arthur Dorison (France) with 5 laps
29 (F-P6) Angelina Proenca (France) with 3 laps
30 Léandre Carvalho (Portugal) with 3 laps
Best lap: Munoz in 1:16.658 (avg. 178.5 km/h)
> Race 2 standings
1 Arthur Dorison (France) with 20 laps
2 Malo Bolliet (France) at 3.594
3 Louis Iglesias (France) at 5.388
4 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 5.502
5 Rintaro Sato (Japan) at 6.206
6 Guillaume Bouzar (France) at 6.400
7 Rayan Caretti (France) at 6.709
8 Hugo Herrouin (France) at 7.427
9 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 8.509
10 Rafaël Perard (France) at 10.808
11 Jules Roussel (France) at 15.621
12 Andy Consani (France) at 16.475
13 (F-P1) Lisa Billard (France) at 17.066
14 Thomas Senecloze (France) at 21.414
15 Paul Roques (France) at 24.319
16 Sasha Milojkovic (Australia) at 24.822
17 Mattéo Giaccardi (Monaco) at 25.495
18 Niccolo Pirri (Italy) at 28.049
19 Hugo Martiniello (France) at 29.923
20 Nicolas Pasquier (France) at 30.022
21 (F-P2) Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 30.163
22 Pierre Devos (France) at 30.918
23 Roméo Leurs (France) at 33.338
24 (F-P3) Jade Jacquet (France) at 35.326
25 (F-P4) Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) at 37.297
26 (F-P5) Héloïse Goldberg (France) with 8 laps
27 Pablo Riccobono Bello (France) with 6 laps
28 Zhelin Shen (China) with 2 laps
29 (F-P6) Angelina Proenca (France) with 2 laps
30 Léandre Carvalho (Portugal) with 2 laps
Best lap: Munoz in 1:16.830 (avg. 178.1 km/h)
(F): Women
