Weather conditions were ideal as the 32 FFSA Academy single-seaters took to the track under sunny skies and temperatures above 20°C for Qualifying for the first of six rounds of the French F4 Championship, held as part of the Easter Cups at Nogaro.
Having set the fastest time in the morning Free Practice session, Belgian driver Thibaut Ramaekers had the honour of being the first to take to the track, followed by Matthéo Dauvergne. Both drivers quickly demonstrated their pace, but it was Guillaume Bouzar who pulled out all the stops and made the difference. Already the fastest with a time of 1:26.410 on his fifth lap, he improved to 1:26.130 on the following lap, whilst Dauvergne clocked an excellent lap time of 1:26.174.
Bouzar sealed the deal on his seventh flying lap with a time of 1:26.030, securing the double pole position for Races 1 and 3. “There were nine drivers ahead of me when we went out on track, so I made sure to keep a good gap to the driver in front of me so as not to be held up. The track’s grip had improved significantly and I was able to make the most of the grip and the tyre performance at just the right moment,” admitted Guillaume, who is particularly motivated for his second year in the series.
With the second part of the session marred by two red flags, few of the fastest drivers managed to improve their times. Matthéo Dauvergne remained 2nd ahead of Hugo Herrouin and Tom Dussol. That made four Frenchmen in the top four, ahead of Belgium’s Ramaekers and Japan’s Kota Tsuchihashi.
Both hailing from the FFSA Academy French Junior Championship, Oscar Goudchaux and Lilian Soares finished 7th and 8th respectively, ahead of the Australian Lewis Francis. In 10th, just 52 thousandths of a second ahead of Lisa Billard, the Israeli Yuval Rosen will start from pole position in Race 2 under the reverse grid rule for the top 10 from the Qualifying session.
The gaps between the drivers proved to be extremely tight, with, for example, less than two tenths of a second separating the two Americans, Jack Iliffe in 12th and Maverick McKenna in 19th.
The start of Race 3 will be based on each driver’s second-fastest time. Behind Bouzar, the promising Dussol will start in 2nd place this time, ahead of Ramaekers, Dauvergne and Tsuchihashi.
Photo © KSP – Guillaume Veuve
