Following Matthéo Dauvergne’s pole position and victories for Belgium’s Thibaut Ramaekers and the American Maverick McKenna in the first two races, Guillaume Bouzar regained the lead by winning Race 3 after starting from 4th on the grid. The leader of the French F4 Championship heads into the final two rounds of the season with a 39-point lead over Belgian driver Thibaut Ramaekers, who finished his weekend at Magny-Cours in 2nd place ahead of Tom Dussol.
Winner of Race 1 ahead of Japan’s Kota Tsuchihashi and Tom Dussol, then 3rd in Race 2 behind McKenna and Lilian Soares, Ramaekers had made a significant move in the Championship on Saturday after closing the gap on Guillaume Bouzar by 26 points in one go. But Bouzar was not done yet on Sunday…
A clash of titans in Race 3
The final race of the meeting produced one of the finest battles since the start of the season. The safety car did not need to be deployed, underlining the level of sportsmanship and fighting spirit that prevailed throughout the 30-minute race. The battle for the podium remained too close to call for a long time. Matthéo Dauvergne retained the lead when the lights went out, with Thibaut Ramaekers and Kota Tsuchihashi in hot pursuit. Despite several aggressive manoeuvres, Ramaekers remained stuck behind his rival for several laps, allowing Guillaume Bouzar to close the gap.
Bouzar initially got the better of Tsuchihashi, and it was in the final third of the race that the situation changed. As Ramaekers tried his luck against Dauvergne, the two drivers got in each other’s way at the Nürburgring corner, allowing Bouzar to slip through on the inside and take the lead. It was Dauvergne who bore the brunt of this titanic battle, dropping to 5th behind Ramaekers in 2nd, followed by Dussol, who took the opportunity to slot into 3rd place, securing his second podium of the weekend. The positions remained unchanged amongst the top four right up to the finish, whilst Lilian Soares gained a place late in the race at the expense of Dauvergne.
Several other duels provided excitement in the chasing pack. Whilst Shane Chandaria and Lewis Francis were forced to retire, Maverick McKenna capped off his excellent weekend in 7th place ahead of Hugo Herrouin, who secured his third consecutive finish in the points after starting from the outside of the 6th row. After his misfortune the previous day, Oscar Goudchaux secured the points for 9th place ahead of Yuval Rosen. Paul Gleizes came very close to scoring his first points in 2026.
Autumn Fisher’s first-ever victory in the Women’s class
As with the overall standings, there were plenty of changes in the rankings in the women’s class. The start of the race went Jade Jacquet’s way, but the F1 Academy driver crashed during a manoeuvre, leaving Lisa Billard at the top of the standings, before Canadian Autumn Fisher took the win after a controlled performance. Jacquet fought her way back to 3rd place ahead of Annabelle Brian. The Dutch driver put in an excellent performance in the French Championship throughout the race and now tops the standings in her category.
> Race 3 Standings
1 Guillaume Bouzar (France) in 18 laps
2 Thibaut Ramaekers (Belgium) at 2.715
3 Tom Dussol (France) at 5.122
4 Kota Tsuchihashi (Japan) at 5.889
5 Matthéo Dauvergne (France) at 6.512
6 Lilian Soares (France) at 7.509
7 Maverick McKenna (USA) at 12.928
8 Hugo Herrouin (France) at 13.899
9 Oscar Goudchaux (France) at 18.243
10 Yuval Rosen (Israel) at 20.222
11 Paul Gleizes (France) at 21.190
12 Jules Avril (France) at 25.627
13 Jack Iliffe (USA) at 26.343
14 Autumn Fisher (Canada) at 31.724 *
15 Lisa Billard (France) at 33.733 *
16 Nicolas Pasquier (France) at 34.674
17 Jade Jacquet (France) at 34.906 *
18 Thomas Senecloze (France) at 35.622
19 Wojciech Woda (Poland) at 36.251
20 Sasha Beisemann (Paraguay) at 36.760
21 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 37.362 *
22 Truly Adams (USA) at 38.11
23 Walter Schulz (F) at 40.145
24 Kyler Cheezum (USA) at 41.270
25 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) at 42.243 *
26 Arthur Eschalier (France) at 42.688
27 Angelina Proenca (France) at 44.679 *
28 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria) at 45.340 *
29 Héloïse Goldberg (France) at 53.065 *
30 Lewis Francis (Australia) with 16 laps
31 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy) with 5 laps *
32 Shane Chandaria (Kenya) with 2 laps
FL: Bouzar 1:40.977 (avg. 157.2 km/h)
* Women’s
> Women’s Race 3
1 Autumn Fisher (Canada)
2 Lisa Billard (France)
3 Jade Jacquet (France)
4 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands)
5 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco)
6 Angelina Proenca (France)
7 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria)
8 Héloïse Goldberg (France)
9 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy)
> Championship standings after Magny-Cours
F4 Academy: 1 Bouzar 186 pts, 2 Ramaekers (BEL) 147 pts, 3 Soares 92 pts, 4 Herrouin and Tsuchihashi (JPN) 88 pts, 6 Dauvergne 69 pts, 7 Dussol 52 pts, 8 Iliffe (USA) 47 pts, 9 McKenna (USA) 41 pts, 10 Goudchaux 38 pts, 11 Rosen (ISR) 33 pts, 12 Francis (AUS) 30 pts, 13 Avril 23 pts, 14 Chandaria (KEN) 16 pts, 15 Pasquier 11 pts, 16 Helias 9 pts, 17 Eschalier 8 pts, 18 Senecloze 3 pts, 19 Stiebleichinger (AUT) and Woda (POL) 1 pt.
Women’s F4: 1 Brian (NED) 175 pts, 2 Stiebleichinger (AUT) 166 pts, 3 Proenca 140 pts, 4 Zanfari (MAR) 121 pts, 5 Goldberg 118 pts, 6 Abreu (CUB) 43 pts, etc.
