Jules Roussel and Arthur Dorison both won a race on Saturday as part of Round 3 of the French F4 Championship in Belgium, and finished 1st and 2nd in Race 3 on Sunday, which certainly rekindled the suspense in the overall standings.
With three races out of six already contested, the Championship, run by the FFSA Academy, has reached the halfway stage of the 2025 season. Alex Munoz arrived in the lead at Spa Francorchamps, but was not as dominant as he had been at Nogaro or Dijon, and the positions between the front runners have been drastically reduced. This situation shows that the upcoming meetings at Magny-Cours, Lédenon and Le Mans can still bring plenty of change, with the rookies continuing to grow in strength.
Race 3: Roussel makes the difference
While Jules Roussel started from pole position in Race 1 thanks to setting the fastest time, Alex Munoz took his place in Race 3, with a grid defined by the second fastest lap time for each driver. He got off to a perfect start to the race, but a few bumps in the pack led to retirements among podium contenders such as Hugo Herrouin and Louis Iglesias, the latter of whom went off the track after contact with Germany’s Montego Maassen. As for the Japanese driver Rintaro Sato, he was unable to start the race due to an issue that occurred during the formation lap.
Jules Roussel was able to break away from the chasing pack and was able to catch Alex Munoz by leaps and bounds. Roussel went on the attack, but the two cars touched under braking at Les Combes. With a damaged car, Alex Munoz suffered his first retirement of the season, while Roussel went on to win. The initial grid was markedly changed.
As the laps went by, the positions in this exciting Race 3 continued to change. Arthur Dorison moved up to 2nd place at a steady pace, taking over from Maassen, who then added to the list of retirements. After an incisive start to the race which saw him move into the top five, Andy Consani was disappointed not to take the chequered flag either.
Rayan Caretti completes the podium
The duel for the third step of the podium remained undecided for a long time between Roméo Leurs, Rayan Caretti, Rafaël Perard, Guillaume Bouzar, Malo Bolliet and Monégasque Mattéo Giaccardi. Unfortunately, it ended in a spectacular collision. The drivers were unharmed, but Perard, Bouzar and Giaccardi were left on the sidelines, as was Thomas Senecloze, a collateral victim of the incident.
The final lap was completed behind the safety car and Roussel was able to celebrate a well-deserved victory with the fastest lap in addition, ahead of Caretti, Bolliet and Leurs. Pablo Riccobono Bello was 6th ahead of Sasha Milojkovic, Hugo Martiniello, Lisa Billard and Nicolas Pasquier, four drivers who were delighted to score their first Championship points.
As in the two previous races, Lisa Billard took the top step of the podium in the women’s category, this time ahead of Dutchwoman Annabelle Brian and Jade Jacquet.
> Race 3 standings
1 Jules Roussel (France) on 11 laps
2 Arthur Dorison (France) at 0.400
3 Rayan Caretti (France) at 0.861
4 Malo Bolliet (France) at 1.323
5 Roméo Leurs (France) at 1.929
6 Pablo Riccobono Bello (France) at 3.400
7 Sasha Milojkovic (Australia) at 4.222
8 Hugo Martiniello (France) at 6.440
9 (F-P1) Lisa Billard (France), penalty 1 place
10 Nicolas Pasquier (France) at 7.536
11 Pierre Devos (France) at 9.357
12 (F-P2) Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 10.241
13 Paul Roques (France) at 11.214
14 (F-P3) Jade Jacquet (France) at 11.911
15 (F-P4) Angelina Proenca (France) at 13.945
16 Zhelin Shen (China) at 14.532
17 Léandre Carvalho (Portugal) at 15.379
18 (F-P5) Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) at 19.337
19 Niccolo Pirri (Italy) at 19.766
20 (F-P6) Héloïse Goldberg (France) at 20.661
21 Guillaume Bouzar (France) with 10 laps
22 Rafaël Perard (France) with 10 laps
23 Mattéo Giaccardi (Monaco) with 10 laps
24 Thomas Senecloze (France) with 10 laps
25 Montego Maassen (Germany) with 7 laps
26 Alexandre Munoz (France) with 6 laps
27 Andy Consani (France) with 5 laps
28 Louis Iglesias (France) with 5 laps
29 Rintaro Sato (Japan) with 0 laps
30 Hugo Herrouin (France) with 0 laps
Best lap: Roussel in 2:23.430 (avg. 175.7 km/h)
(F): Women
> Championship standings after Spa Francorchamps
1 Munoz 147 pts, 2 Roussel 135 pts, 3 Dorison 82 pts, 4 Maassen 52 pts, 5 Iglesias 51 pts, 6 Caretti 49 pts, 7 Perard 48 pts, 8 Bolliet 45 pts, 9 Bouzar 40 pts, 10 Giaccardi 29 pts, 11 Consani 22 pts, 12 Herrouin 20 pts, 13 Sato 19 pts, 14 Senecloze 14 pts, 15 Leurs 14 pts, 16 Riccobono Bello 13 pts, 17 Milojkovic 6 pts, 18 Martiniello 4 pts, 19 Billard 2 pts, 20 Pirri 2 pts, 21 Pasquier 1 pt.
> Next races in 2025: Magny-Cours (1st-3rd August), Lédenon (12th-14th September) and Le Mans (25th-27th September)
