Following a fiercely contested season opener at Nogaro over the Easter weekend, the young talents of the French F4 Championship will take on the spectacular and legendary Burgundy circuit from 15th to 17th May 2026. Guillaume Bouzar will defend his fragile lead against the 31 other FFSA Academy drivers, all dreaming of a podium finish.
The Dijon circuit is renowned for producing closely fought races due to race strategies that are difficult to maintain, often narrow gaps between drivers, tricky tyre management and the slipstream effect on the straight. The still-uncertain weather conditions could further complicate matters on the Burgundy circuit.
A benchmark single-seater Championship
With a record field of 32 drivers from 15 different countries, the 2026 season once again confirms the appeal of French F4, an essential benchmark in the training and identification of future motorsport talents. The Championship’s launch at Nogaro has already demonstrated the quality of the field and the appeal of the discipline. Several drivers have already distinguished themselves in the first three races of the season, and all are eager to compete again after a six-week break.
As always in the FFSA Academy, all participants benefit from the same technical conditions thanks to the identical single-seaters prepared by the federation. Over the years, this unique concept has helped to uncover numerous talents who are now competing at the highest international level, such as F1 drivers Pierre Gasly and Isack Hadjar.
Already three different winners
Frenchmen Guillaume Bouzar and Matthéo Dauvergne, along with Australian Lewis Francis, have all managed to climb to the top step of the podium at Nogaro. They are already eager to do so again. Hugo Herrouin has shown great consistency at the front of the field and will be looking to celebrate his first victory. The Japanese drivers from the Honda Racing School in Suzuka regularly shine in the French F4 Championship, and Kota Tsuchihashi seems to have the potential to follow in his predecessors’ footsteps in 2026. The same goes for the Belgian drivers backed by the RACB, and it is Thibaut Ramaekers, the 2025 FIA Karting World Champion, who has taken up the torch, already demonstrating impressive top speed. Outsiders at Nogaro, Oscar Goudchaux, Lilian Soares, Jimmy Hélias and the Israeli Yuval Rosen, winner of the Feed Racing scholarship, are also keen to be among the title contenders.
10 female drivers at Dijon
Also competing in the F1 Academy, Lisa Billard and Jade Jacquet continued with the Championship that launched their careers in 2025. They will be at Dijon to challenge the eight contenders in the new French F4 Championship reserved for women. Dutch driver Annabelle Brian currently leads the overall standings ahead of France’s Angelina Proenca and Austria’s Clara Stiebleichinger.
> Entry list
4 – CHEEZUM Kyler (USA)
5 – STIEBLEICHINGER Clara (Austria)*
7 – ESCHALIER Arthur (France)
8 – HELIAS Jimmy (France)
9 – ROSEN Yuval (Israel)
10 – SOARES Lilian (France)
11 – ABREU Isabella (Cuba)*
12 – GOLDBERG Héloïse (France)*
13 – FRANCIS Lewis (Australia)
14 – BILLARD Lisa (France)*
17 – MCKENNA Maverick (USA)
19 – BOUZAR Guillaume (France)
21 – PASQUIER Nicolas (France)
23 – PROENCA Angelina (France)*
26 – ZANFARI Sofia (Morocco)*
27 – DUSSOL Tom (France)
28 – PANZERI Ginevra (Italy)*
29 – DAUVERGNE Matthéo (France)
30 – GLEIZES Paul (France)
42 – GOUDCHAUX Oscar (France)
44 – JACQUET Jade (France)*
47 – HERROUIN Hugo (France)
50 – TSUCHIHASHI Kota (Japan)
53 – SENECLOZE Thomas (France)
56 – CHANDARIA Shane (Kenya)
57 – FISHER Autumn (Canada)*
68 – WODA Wojciech (Poland)
79 – RAMAEKERS Thibaut (Belgium)
83 – BRIAN Annabelle (Netherlands)*
88 – AVRIL Jules (France)
95 – ILIFFE Jack (USA)
99 – BEISEMANN Sasha (Paraguay)
*Female drivers
> 15 nationalities represented
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Morocco, Paraguay, the Netherlands, Poland and the USA
> Dijon 2026 Programme
Friday 15th May: Free Practice (09:10 – 09:40) and Qualifying (15:30 – 16:00)
Saturday 5th May: Race 1 (10:20 – 10:55) and Race 2 (16:25 – 17:00)
Sunday 6th May: Race 3 (10:20 – 10:55)
> 2026 Calendar
Nogaro (4th–6th April, already run), Dijon (15th–17th May), Spa Francorchamps, Belgium (19th–21st June), Magny-Cours (31st July–2nd August), Lédenon (18th–20th September) and Paul Ricard (9th–11th October)
> Equipment
Ligier Mygale F4 FIA Generation 2 single-seater, Renault 1.3L Turbo engine, Pirelli tyres. Two new sets of tyres are allocated for the entire competition, to be used from Qualifying onwards.
> Race format
Following the 30-minute Free Practice sessions and the 30-minute official Qualifying session, three 30-minute races are held at each meeting, with the starting grids determined as follows:
1/ Each driver’s fastest time set in Qualifying for Race 1
2/ Each driver’s fastest time set in Qualifying, with the top 10 drivers’ grid positions reversed, for Race 2
3/ Each driver’s second-fastest time set in Qualifying for Race 3
> Points allocation
Races 1 and 3: 25 points for 1st, 18 for 2nd, 15 for 3rd, 12 for 4th, 10 for 5th, 8 for 6th, 6 for 7th, 4 for 8th, 2 for 9th and 1 for 10th
Race 2: 10 points for 1st, 8 for 2nd, 6 for 3rd, 5 for 4th, 4 for 5th, 3 for 6th, 2 for 7th and 1 for 8th
> Standings after Nogaro
F4 Academy: 1 Bouzar 43 pts, 2 Herrouin 30 pts, 3 Dauvergne 28 pts, 4 Tsuchihashi (JAP) 27 pts, 5 Goudchaux 27 pts, 6 Francis (AUS) 24 pts, 7 Soares 22 pts, 8 Ramaekers (BEL) 21 pts, 9 Rosen (ISR) 13 pts, 10 Helias 6 pts, 11 Chadaria (KEN) 2 pts, 12 Avril 2 pts, 13 Woda (POL) 1 pt.
Women’s F4: 1 Brian (NED) 40 pts, 2 Proenca 39 pts, 3 Stiebleichinger (AUT) 35 pts, 4 Goldberg 29 pts, 5 Zanfari (MAR) 26 pts, 6 Fisher (CAN) 22 pts, 7 Abreu (CUB) 20 pts.
Photo © KSP – Guillaume Veuve
