Rayan Caretti was eagerly awaiting his first victory in the French F4 Championship. He achieved his goal in Race 1 at Magny-Cours against Rafaël Perard, while Arthur Dorison dominated Race 2 to secure his fourth victory in 2025.
Alex Munoz and Jules Roussel, who had been the main protagonists in the first three rounds of the FIA-certified F4 Championship, were not the most prominent drivers in Nièvre on Saturday, when Races 1 and 2 took place. Their rivals took advantage of this to claim the top spots. First, Louis Iglesias took pole position in Qualifying as the only driver to break the 1:40 barrier. Then, the two drivers behind Iglesias, Rayan Caretti and Rafaël Perard, made the most of the situation in the first race…
Race 1: Caretti wins his duel against Perard
Starting from pole position, Louis Iglesias got off to a flying start and took the lead at the Estoril corner. Right behind him, Rayan Caretti seized the opportunity to overtake his rival as soon as they braked at the Adelaide hairpin. Coming out of the corner, the two cars touched and Iglesias lost his front wing. It was a huge disappointment for the pole sitter, who was forced to return to the pits and retire! While Rafaël Perard set off in pursuit of Caretti, Alex Munoz gained three places on the first lap to move into 3rd position ahead of Jules Roussel.
A few laps later, two successive incidents brought out the safety car. Perard took advantage of the regrouping of the field to attack Caretti shortly after the green flag and take the lead with a superb manoeuvre. Caretti refused to admit defeat and regained his position after putting pressure on his opponent. Behind them, there was a dramatic turn of events with the retirement of Jules Roussel, currently 2nd in the Championship. While Caretti claimed his first ever F4 victory ahead of Perard, Munoz made good progress in the Championship by completing the podium. Malo Bolliet and Arthur Dorison overtook Roméo Leurs to finish 4th and 5th respectively. Japan’s Rintaro Sato made a superb comeback from 15th to 8th place, sandwiched between Germany’s Montego Maassen and Guillaume Bouzar. Caught up in a collision on the first lap and dropping back to 28th position, Andy Consani managed to snatch 10th place after a remarkable comeback. A little further back, Morocco’s Sofia Zanfari took the top step of the women’s podium for the first time, ahead of Jade Jacquet and Dutch driver Annabelle Brian.
Arthur Dorison, the Race 2 specialist
10th in Qualifying and therefore starting from pole position for Race 2 under the reverse grid rule, Arthur Dorison had a flawless race from start to finish. The presence of the safety car at certain points in the race did not disrupt the young Frenchman, who remains undefeated this season in Race 2. Three drivers stayed close to the leader, neutralising each other during the 15 laps of the race, with Guillaume Bouzar finishing 2nd and setting the fastest lap ahead of Monegasque driver Mattéo Giaccardi and Malo Bolliet.
The excitement came from behind. While Jules Roussel suffered a second consecutive retirement, Alex Munoz lost his 5th place from the start of the race, being overtaken successively by Rayan Caretti and Japan’s Rintaro Sato. The duel between Louis Iglesias and Roméo Leurs ended with a collision and the retirement of both drivers. Andy Consani took 8th place at the expense of Rafaël Perard and Germany’s Montego Maassen. 16th in the overall standings, Lisa Billard regained first place in the women’s category ahead of Dutch driver Annabelle Brian and Jade Jacquet.
> Qualifying session: 1 Iglesias 1:39.892, 2 Caretti 1:40.068, 3 Perard 1:40.087, 4 Roussel 1:40.151, 5 Leurs 1:40.241, 6 Munoz 1:40.353, 7 Bolliet 1:40.394, 8 Giaccardi 1:40.406, 9 Bouzar 1:40.426, 10 Dorison 1:40.494, etc.
> Race 1 classification
1 Rayan Caretti (France) with 16 laps
2 Rafaël Perard (France) at 1.022
3 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 1.418
4 Malo Bolliet (France) at 1.841
5 Arthur Dorison (France) at 3.949
6 Roméo Leurs (France) at 3.645
7 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 4.322
8 Rintaro Sato (Japan) at 4.646
9 Guillaume Bouzar (France) at 5.772
10 Andy Consani (France) at 6.161
11 Hugo Herrouin (France) at 8.989
12 Hugo Martiniello (France) at 9.552
13 Paul Roques (France) at 11.121
14 Zhelin Shen (China) at 14.246
15 Niccolo Pirri (Italy) at 14.819
16 Nicolas Pasquier (France) at 15.387
17 Léandre Carvalho (Portugal) at 16.029
18 Sasha Milojkovic (Australia) at 16.895
19 (F-P1) Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) at 24.763
20 (F-P2) Jade Jacquet (France) at 27.931
21 (F-P3) Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 29.218
22 (F-P4) Héloïse Goldberg (France) at 30.351
23 Jules Roussel (France) with 4 laps
24 Pierre Devos (France) with 4 laps
25 (F-P5) Angelina Proenca (France) with 9 laps
26 (F-P6) Lisa Billard (France) with 13 laps
27 Thomas Senecloze (France) with 14 laps
28 Pablo Riccobono Bello (France) with 14 laps
29 Louis Iglesias (France) with 15 laps
30 Mattéo Giaccardi (Monaco), did not start
Fastest lap: Caretti in 1:40.685 (average speed 157.7 km/h)
> Race 2 classification
1 Arthur Dorison (France) with 15 laps
2 Guillaume Bouzar (France) at 1.059
3 Mattéo Giaccardi (Monaco) at 1.900
4 Malo Bolliet (France) at 3.760
5 Rayan Caretti (France) at 4.125
6 Rintaro Sato (Japan) at 5.228
7 Alexandre Munoz (France) at 5.579
8 Andy Consani (France) at 7.076
9 Rafaël Perard (France) at 7.866
10 Montego Maassen (Germany) at 8.119
11 Hugo Herrouin (France) at 9.123
12 Paul Roques (France) at 10.267
13 Thomas Senecloze (France) at 10,623
14 Hugo Martiniello (France) at 11,195
15 Nicolas Pasquier (France) at 12,743
16 (F-P1) Lisa Billard (France) at 13,234
17 (F-P2) Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 16.201
18 (F-P3) Jade Jacquet (France) at 16.449
19 Zhelin Shen (China) at 18.229
20 Léandre Carvalho (Portugal) at 18.711
21 Niccolo Pirri (Italy) at 19.111
22 (F-P4) Angelina Proenca (France) at
23 (F-P5) Héloïse Goldberg (France) at
24 Sasha Milojkovic (Australia) at
25 Louis Iglesias (France) with 3 laps
26 Roméo Leurs (France) with 6 laps
27 Pierre Devos (France) with 7 laps
28 (F-P6) Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) with 7 laps
29 Pablo Riccobono Bello (France) with 10 laps
30 Jules Roussel (France) with 12 laps
Fastest lap: Bouzar in 1:40.391 (avg. 158.1 km/h)
(F): Female
