Having been pipped by Matthéo Dauvergne in Qualifying, Belgian driver Thibaut Ramaekers turned the tables in Race 1 by securing his third win of the season, whilst Japan’s Kota Tsuchihashi and Tom Dussol also managed to overtake the Frenchman. Finishing 3rd in Race 2 in the sweltering heat at Magny-Cours, Ramaekers closed the gap by 27 points in a single day on the French F4 Championship leader, Guillaume Bouzar. American driver Maverick McKenna opened his points tally after winning Race 2 ahead of Lilian Soares.
As is often the case in the FFSA Academy Championship, the Qualifying session proved to be fiercely contested. Guillaume Bouzar had set a fast pace and was leading the standings when a red flag halted the drivers’ progress after around ten minutes. On the restart, everything was decided during the final 20 minutes. Matthéo Dauvergne then went on to set a string of fast lap times to secure pole position ahead of Belgium’s Thibaut Ramaekers and Japan’s Kota Tsuchihashi. Israel’s Yuval Rosen produced his best session of the season, narrowly edging out Bouzar.
Race 1: Ramaekers surprises Dauvergne
Matthéo Dauvergne made perfect use of his pole position to surge into the lead through the first series of corners at the Magny-Cours circuit. But under braking for the Adelaïde corner, Thibaut Ramaekers put the leader under pressure and pulled off a superb overtaking manoeuvre a few dozen metres further on, passing him on the exit of the Nürburgring corner. Kota Tsuchihashi seized the opportunity to slot into 2nd place. Having already made an excellent start to the race from 6th on the grid, Tom Dussol in turn overtook Dauvergne to secure his first podium finish behind Ramaekers, who held off Tsuchihashi.
Behind the leading group, the race proved to be very lively, resulting in three safety car deployments. Starting 12th, Hugo Herrouin put in one of the finest performances, fighting his way up to 5th place ahead of Lilian Soares. Another excellent performance came from the Kenyan Shane Chandaria, who boosted his points tally in the overall standings by moving up from 15th to 8th place, sandwiched between the American Maverick McKenna and the Australian Lewis Francis. Rosen rounded off the top 10 after losing places during an incident in the pack.
Race 2: First win for McKenna
In accordance with FFSA Academy regulations, the start of Race 2 was based on a reverse grid for the top 10 finishers in Qualifying. Having failed to secure a podium finish in Race 1, American Jack Iliffe was able to start from pole position, but his rivals quickly put him under pressure. McKenna initially took the lead, followed shortly afterwards by Soares. The two drivers were neck and neck right up to the finish, with the Frenchman unable to overtake his rival. After an excellent start, Ramaekers gradually worked his way up to 3rd place, though he was unable to threaten the leading duo. With a fine move, Bouzar closed the gap on his main rival in the French F4 Championship. Once again, the positions remained unchanged, whilst Iliffe held on to 5th place. In 6th, Herrouin staged another fine comeback, as did his pursuers Thomas Senecloze and Jules Avril, who gained six and ten places respectively to finish in the points at the expense of Oscar Goudchaux. Truly Adams and Walter Schulz showed promising potential in their very first outing with the FFSA Academy. Tsuchihashi and Dussol were among the big losers in Race 2, as was Paul Gleizes, who had already suffered misfortune in Race 1 despite starting in the top 10.
Women’s: Annabelle Brian and Lisa Billard share the victories
Following Jade Jacquet’s retirement in Race 1 – she had been the fastest in the French Women’s Championship during Qualifying – Dutch driver Annabelle Brian showed great fighting spirit to secure victory ahead of Lisa Billard and Italy’s Ginevra Panzeri. Billard took her revenge by winning Race 2, whilst also securing 10th place overall. Starting from the back row following a Qualifying session that was cut short too soon, Clara Stiebleichinger spared no effort to move up 18 places and secure the maximum number of points in her category, as Lisa Billard failed to score any points, nor did Jade Jacquet, who this time finished 3rd ahead of the Moroccan Sofia Zanfari.
> Qualifying session: 1 Dauvergne 1:40.975, 2 Ramaekers 1:41.178, 3 Tsuchihashi 1:41.276, 4 Rosen 1:41.320, 5 Bouzar 1:41.360, 6 Dussol 1:41.446, 7 Soares 1:41.543, 8 McKenna 1:41.572, 9 Gleizes 1:41.769, 10 Iliffe 1:41.787, etc.
> Women’s Qualifying session: 1 Jacquet 1:42.215, 2 Billard 1:42.594, 3 Fisher 1:42.722, 4 Brian 1:42.810, 5 Panzeri 1:42.860, etc.
> Race 1 results
1 Thibaut Ramaekers (Belgium) in 13 laps
2 Kota Tsuchihashi (Japan) at 0.694
3 Tom Dussol (France) at 1.605
4 Matthéo Dauvergne (France) at 2.283
5 Hugo Herrouin (France) at 2.880
6 Lilian Soares (France) at 3.291
7 Maverick McKenna (USA) at 3.747
8 Shane Chandaria (Kenya) at 5.094
9 Lewis Francis (Australia) at 5.498
10 Yuval Rosen (Israel) at 5.751
11 Jules Avril (France) at 6.047
12 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 6.349 *
13 Lisa Billard (France) at 7.792 *
14 Wojciech Woda (Poland) at 8.084
15 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy) at 8.750 *
16 Kyler Cheezum (USA) at 10.245
17 Truly Adams (USA) with 10.406
18 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria) with 11.882 *
19 Sasha Beisemann (Paraguay) with 12.909
20 Autumn Fisher (Canada) at 13.143 *
21 Héloïse Goldberg (France) at 14.047 *
22 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) at 14.309 *
23 Angelina Proenca (France) at 26.554 *
24 Walter Schulz (F) at 30.045
25 Guillaume Bouzar (France) with 10 laps
26 Thomas Senecloze (France) with 10 laps
27 Arthur Eschalier (France) with 6 laps
28 Paul Gleizes (France) with 4 laps
29 Jack Iliffe (USA) with 3 laps
30 Oscar Goudchaux (France) with 3 laps
31 Jade Jacquet (France) with 3 laps *
32 Nicolas Pasquier (France) with 3 laps
FL: Bouzar 1:41.457 (avg. 156.5 km/h)
* Women’s
> Women’s Race 1
1 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands)
2 Lisa Billard (France)
3 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy)
4 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria)
5 Autumn Fisher (Canada)
6 Héloïse Goldberg (France)
7 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco)
8 Angelina Proenca (France)
9 Jade Jacquet (France)
> Race 2 Results
1 Maverick Mckenna (USA) at 20.829
2 Lilian Soares (France) at 14.891
3 Thibaut Ramaekers (Belgium) with 23 laps
4 Guillaume Bouzar (France) at 8.913
5 Jack Iliffe (USA) at 4.185
6 Hugo Herrouin (France) at 7.840
7 Thomas Senecloze (France) at 34.088
8 Jules Avril (France) at 6.428
9 Oscar Goudchaux (France) at 7.243
10 Lisa Billard (France) at 22.797 *
11 Yuval Rosen (Israel) at 35.398
12 Truly Adams (USA) at 10.406
13 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria) at 45.903 *
14 Jade Jacquet (France) at 33.418 *
15 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) at 33.645 *
16 Kyler Cheezum (USA) at
17 Lewis Francis (Australia) at 15.119
18 Arthur Eschalier (France) at 15.921
19 Matthéo Dauvergne (France) at 18.500
20 Walter Schulz (F) at 30.045
21 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 35.647 *
22 Sasha Beisemann (Paraguay) at 26.423
23 Héloïse Goldberg (France) with 22 laps *
24 Autumn Fisher (Canada) at *
25 Kota Tsuchihashi (Japan) at 26.525
26 Shane Chandaria (Kenya) at 38.617
27 Paul Gleizes (France) at 39.755
28 Wojciech Woda (Poland) at 22.290
29 Angelina Proenca (France) at 39.131 *
30 Tom Dussol (France) with 16 laps
31 Nicolas Pasquier (France) at 14.056
32 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy) at 13.373 *
Fastest lap: Ramaekers in 1:17.488 (avg. 176.5 km/h)
> Women’s Race 2
1 Lisa Billard (France)
2 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria)
3 Jade Jacquet (France)
4 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco)
5 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands)
6 Héloïse Goldberg (France)
7 Autumn Fisher (Canada)
8 Angelina Proenca (France)
9 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy)
> Race 3: Sunday 2 August (10:00 – 10:35)
