Securing a double pole position and winning Race 1 with the fastest lap, Guillaume Bouzar racked up a haul of points at the start of the weekend during the opening round of the FIA-certified French F4 Championship. The Easter Cup also saw Australian Lewis Francis claim victory in Race 2.
The Formula 4 series run by the FFSA Academy got off to a flying start in the Gers with 32 cars on the starting grid and two thrilling opening races to watch, in the most pleasant of spring weather. The Qualifying session had set the tone for the event with extremely tight margins. Making excellent use of his experience from last season, Guillaume Bouzar secured pole position ahead of Matthéo Dauvergne, Hugo Herrouin, Tom Dussol and the Belgian Ramaekers, the 2025 FIA Karting World Champion in the OK class.
Race 1: Guillaume Bouzar dominates
As the lights went out, Guillaume Bouzar surged to the front of the pack into the first corner, despite an excellent start from Hugo Herrouin from third place. Initially positioned on the outside of the front row, Matthéo Dauvergne had to return to the pits at the end of the formation lap due to a technical issue. Belgian driver Thibaut Ramaekers immediately regained the position he had lost in the first corner against Japan’s Kota Tsuchihashi. Ramaekers then set his sights on Tom Dussol, who spun on the following lap. The safety car came onto the track, but this did not unsettle the leader.
“Pole, victory and fastest lap, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better start. I’d already won Race 2 at Lédenon in 2025, but this victory obviously tastes even sweeter. After the start, I was able to pull away from Hugo Herrouin and managed to do the same after the mid-race safety car period, which then allowed me to manage my tyre wear,” said Guillaume.
With two sets of tyres available for free use, the chasing pack saw plenty of action due to the different choices made by the drivers: some kept the tyres from the Qualifying session, whilst others fitted new tyres, either two or four depending on their strategies!
Towards the end of the race, Ramaekers tried in vain to put pressure on Herrouin, who was delighted to secure his first F4 podium. The Belgian then found out he had dropped to 14th place due to a penalty. Kota Tsuchihashi and Oscar Goudchaux were pleased to have moved up three places from their starting positions to finish 3rd and 4th. Australian Lewis Francis, who had managed to get the better of Lilian Soares on the very first lap, held off his rival throughout the race to round out the top five.
This race was marked by Jimmy Helias’s comeback from 15th to 7th place, ahead of Israeli Yuval Rosen and the top female driver, Lisa Billard. Poland’s Wojciech Woda gained 11 places to finish 11th behind Jules Avril, who just made it into the top 10. Lurking in the wings, Jade Jacquet took 2nd place on the women’s podium ahead of Morocco’s Sofia Zanfari following the penalty received by the Dutch rider Annabelle Brian.
Race 2: Australian victory for Lewis Francis
Yuval Rosen secured pole position for Race 2 under the reverse grid rule for the top 10 finishers in Qualifying. After a flawless start, the Israeli driver held off his three main rivals for much of the race: Australian Lewis Francis, Lilian Soares and Oscar Goudchaux. Behind them, the battles were relentless, with a few collisions and safety car deployments. Whilst the Volant Feed Racing winner seemed to be holding firm with the fastest lap in the bag, Francis took his chance with less than three laps to go at the braking point for the hairpin at the School and sped towards victory. A few dozen metres further on, Soares also managed to overtake Rosen to move into 2nd place.
Oscar Goudchaux and Hugo Herrouin put in solid performances and boosted their points tally in 4th and 5th places. Having been in 8th place at the halfway stage, Belgian driver Thibaut Ramaekers regained his 6th place from the start. Matthéo Dauvergne finished 7th ahead of Lisa Billard and Shane Chandaria, who scored his first point. These three drivers gained positions following the collision between Guillaume Bouzar and Tom Dussol. Initially 5th on the grid, Japan’s Kota Tsuchihashi had to start from the pits and maintained a high pace to climb back up to 16th.
Lisa Billard once again took the top step of the podium in the women’s category, ahead of Austria’s Clara Stiebleichinger and Morocco’s Sofia Zanfari.
> Qualifying session
1 Bouzar 1:26.098, 2 Dauvergne 1:26.174, 3 Herrouin 1:26.337, 4 Dussol 1:26.356, 5 Ramaekers 1:26.368, 6 Tsuchihashi 1:26.466, 7 Goudchaux 1:26.520, 8 Soares 1:26.594, 9 Francis 1:26.604, 10 Rosen 1:26.694, etc.
> Women’s Qualifying session
1 Billard 1:26.746, 2 Jacquet 1:27.037, 3 Stiebleichinger 1:27.177, 4 Brian 1:27.277, 5 Proenca 1:27.480, etc.
> Race 1 Standings
1 Guillaume Bouzar (France) with 19 laps
2 Hugo Herrouin (France) at 2.725
3 Kota Tsuchihashi (Japan) at 3.177
4 Oscar Goudchaux (France) at 5.332
5 Lewis Francis (Australia) at 12.577
6 Lilian Soares (France) at 13.092
7 Jimmy Helias (France) at 13.419
8 Yuval Rosen (Israel) at 13.915
9 Lisa Billard (France) at 14.400 *
10 Jules Avril (France) at 15.321
11 Wojciech Woda (Poland) at 16.035
12 Jade Jacquet (France) at 16.409 *
13 Thibaut Ramaekers (Belgium) at 22.814
14 Jack Iliffe (USA) 18.835
15 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria) 23.167 *
16 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) 24.850 *
17 Maverick Mckenna (USA) 25.276
18 Thomas Senecloze (France) at 25.676
19 Angelina Proenca (France) at 27.100 *
20 Shane Chandaria (Kenya) at 27.199
21 Paul Gleizes (France) at 30.491
22 Héloïse Goldberg (France) at 31.075 *
23 Sasha Beisemann (Paraguay) at 32.293
24 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 38.114 *
25 Kyler Cheezum (USA) at 43.653
26 Autumn Fisher (Canada) at 46.998 *
27 Arthur Eschalier (France) at 1:00.500
28 Isabella Abreu (Cuba) with 18 laps *
29 Nicolas Pasquier (France) with 17 laps
30 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy) with 13 laps *
31 Matthéo Dauvergne (France) with 5 laps
32 Tom Dussol (France) with 1 lap
MT: Bouzar 1:26.182 (avg. 151.8 km/h)
* Women
> Women’s Race 1
1 Lisa Billard (France)
2 Jade Jacquet (France)
3 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands)
4 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria)
5 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco)
6 Angelina Proenca (France)
7 Héloïse Goldberg (France)
8 Autumn Fisher (Canada)
9 Isabella Abreu (Cuba)
10 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy)
> Race 2 Standings
1 Lewis Francis (Australia) with 15 laps
2 Lilian Soares (France) at 0.930
3 Yuval Rosen (Israel) at 2.999
4 Oscar Goudchaux (France) at 4.241
5 Hugo Herrouin (France) at 4.895
6 Thibaut Ramaekers (Belgium) at 5.413
7 Matthéo Dauvergne (France) at 6.450
8 Lisa Billard (France) at 7.016 *
9 Shane Chandaria (Kenya) at 7.877
10 Nicolas Pasquier (France) at 8.823
11 Thomas Senecloze (France) at 9.260
12 Maverick Mckenna (USA) at 9.457
13 Arthur Eschalier (France) at 9.808
14 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria) at 10.267 *
15 Paul Gleizes (France) at 10.850
16 Kota Tsuchihashi (Japan) at 11.019
17 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) at 12.762 *
18 Angelina Proenca (France) at 13.492 *
19 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 14.148 *
20 Kyler Cheezum (USA) at 14.499
21 Jimmy Helias (France) at 14.773
22 Sasha Beisemann (Paraguay) at 15.555
23 Isabella Abreu (Cuba) at 16.452 *
24 Autumn Fisher (Canada) with 13 laps *
25 Héloïse Goldberg (France) with 13 laps *
26 Guillaume Bouzar (France) with 8 laps
27 Tom Dussol (France) with 8 laps
28 Jack Iliffe (USA) with 4 laps
29 Jules Avril (France) with 2 laps
30 Wojciech Woda (Poland) with 2 laps
31 Jade Jacquet (France) with 2 laps *
32 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy), did not start *
Fastest lap: Rosen in 1:26.900 (avg. 150.6 km/h)
> Women’s Race 2
1 Lisa Billard (France)
2 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria)
3 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco)
4 Angelina Proenca (France)
5 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands)
6 Isabella Abreu (Cuba)
7 Autumn Fisher (Canada)
8 Héloïse Goldberg (France)
9 Jade Jacquet (France)
10 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy)
> Race 3
Monday 6 April (1.55 pm – 2.30 pm)
Photo © KSP – Guillaume Veuve
