Photo: FFSA

Alexandre Munoz extended his French Formula 4 points lead by winning race three of the weekend at Dijon.

It was a lights-to-flag success, although there were some tight moments. Jules Roussel passed Montego Maassen for second on lap one, and stuck with Munoz.

He attempted to pass him around the outside of turn one on lap four, then again on lap five and this time remained alongside through the esses until they got to turn five at the top of the hill. That bunched up the top seven, then the train became even longer on lap six as the safety car appeared due to Angelina Proenca going into the gravel after an incident with Annabelle Brian and rolling her car as one side of it dug in.

Racing resumed on lap eight, and Munoz swerved on the way to turn one to fend off Roussel. Further back, Lisa Billard spun.

Although Roussel set the fastest lap on lap nine, and nine seconds covered the top 19, Munoz was the faster of the two victory contenders and began to pull away in the race’s second half. His fourth win from six races came by 2.759 seconds, and Maassen was a further 3.6s behind.

There was an entertaining battle for fourth between Rafael Perard, Guillaume Bouzar and Arthur Dorison.

Perard started fourth, but he and Bouzar fell behind Dorison on lap one. Bouzar overtook Perard on lap two, and on lap 14 they swapped places again as Perard sold Bouzar the dummy at turn one by picking the outside line then tucking to the inside to get ahead.

Three laps later he was on the tail of Dorison, who weaved down the pit straight in defence lap after lap until Perard dived down his inside at turn one on lap 19. Perard ran away after that, and finished on Maassen’s tail. Bouzar was unable to get past Dorison, and finished 26th after crashing on the final lap.

Andy Consani, Rintaro Sato and Malo Bolliet were the three drivers behind them at first. Matteo Giaccardi cleared Bolliet on lap two. Bolliet got back on lap 12, as Sato heaped pressure on Consani. Eventually he broke his defences on lap 15, going to his inside at turn one and sticking alongside through the esses then getting ahead at turn 15. However there was no gain of position for him, since Giaccardi had swept around the outside of both at the first corner too.

There were starring drives from Rayan Caretti and Louis Iglesias, who started 29th and 30th. Iglesias was at the back due to a penalty after qualifying 10th, but he charged up to 13th and Caretti made it to 10th.

Annabelle Brian got a 10s penalty for overtaking at the safety car restart and was classified two laps down after pitting for a new front wing following late contact with Niccolo Pirri, Shen retired on the final lap after his rear-right tyre spectacularly delaminated on the pit straight and sent him off.

Race results (22 laps)

The post Alexandre Munoz grows French F4 lead with another Dijon win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP Reportages

Alexandre Munoz and Arthur Dorison again won the first two French Formula 4 races of the weekend at Dijon.

Race two was brought forward to Saturday, meaning any major incidents in race one risked the possibility of drivers missing the action later in the day. And it proved to be a dramatic race.

Munoz started on pole and held off Jules Roussel, who passed Montego Maassen on the opening lap. Rafael Perard, starting seventh due to a three-place grid penalty carried over from round one, made his way up to fourth ahead of Louis Iglesias and Malo Bolliet.

Guillaume Bouzar meanwhile fell from fifth to ninth, but regained a place on lap two by passing Hugo Herrouin and another on lap three as Dorison headed towards retirement.

Munoz was the fastest driver on track and had a 1.5-second lead when the safety car appeared on lap five due to Leandre Carvalho and Angelina Proenca getting into trouble at turn four. Niccolo Pirri and Zhelin Shen were also involved, and plummeted down the order.

Racing resumed on lap nine, and Bouzar overtook Bolliet for sixth. Behind him, Rayan Caretti cleared Rintaro Sato for ninth. He then snuck past Herrouin and Romeo Leurs on lap 10 before the safety car returned due to Sofia Zanfari crashing out at turn one.

The next restart came on lap 13 of 18, and Munoz sprinted away up front. While the top five held their positions, Herrouin headed to the pits to retire and Caretti overtook Bouzar for sixth then pulled away from him.

Nicolas Pasquier crashed at turn seven on lap 15, but only local yellow flags were needed as his car was cleared.

Sato started race two from reversed-grid pole but fell to sixth with a slow getaway, with fellow front-row starter Dorison taking the lead. He was followed by Bolliet, who started fourth, and Iglesias, who came from sixth on the grid.

Four laps in, Perard was challenging Iglesias for third but lost out in battle and fell to 11th just as the safety car was deployed to retrieve the cars of Leandre Carvalho, Angelina Proenca and Shen Zhelin from the gravel trap.

Pablo Riccobonno Bello picked up race-ending damage as the field concertinaed before the race restarted with 15 minutes left on the clock.

In that time, Dorison managed to pull out a 3.594-second advantage over Bolliet as he clinched his second successive reversed-grid win.

Munoz almost made it to the podium after starting 10th. He went side-by-side with Sato to take fourth with seven minutes to go, and tried to repeat the move on Iglesias at the end of the race but couldn’t find a way past.

Results round-up
Race 1 (18 laps)
1 Alexandre Munoz 30m27.980s
2 Jules Roussel +1.666s
3 Montego Maassen +2.157s
4 Rafael Perard +2.627s
5 Louis Iglesias +3.940s
6 Rayan Caretti +4.703s
7 Guillaume Bouzar +6.522s
8 Malo Bolliet +6.969s
9 Romeo Leurs +7.221s
10 Rintaro Sato +9.014s
Fastest lap: Munoz, 1m16.658s

Race 2 (20 laps)
1 Arthur Dorison 30m50.708s
2 Bolliet +3.594s
3 Iglesias +5.388s
4 Munoz +5.502s
5 Sato +6.206s
6 Bouzar +6.400s
7 Caretti +6.709s
8 Hugo Herrouin +7.427s
9 Maassen +8.509s
10 Perard +10.808s
FL: Munoz, 1m16.830s

Championship standings
1 Munoz 97   2 Roussel 58   3 Dorison 42   4 Iglesias 39   5 Perard 36   6 Bolliet 29   7 Bouzar 22   8 Caretti 20   9 Matteo Giaccardi 18   10 Andy Consani 16

The post Munoz and Dorison are French F4 winners again at Dijon appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP Reportages

Alexandre Munoz continued his strong start to the French Formula 4 season by topping qualifying for round two at Dijon.

An unusual free practice session preceded qualifying, as only nine of the 30 drivers set a flying lap and just 13 in total completed a timed lap of any description.

Arthur Dorison was fastest, a 1m17.612s set on the sixth of his nine tours of the track putting him 0.273 seconds ahead of Niccolo Pirri. Jason Shen was half a second further back in third, and Jade Jacquet was 1.033s off the place in fourth.

The nine who did lap at pace were covered by 4.166s, and points leader Munoz was among those who did not have a laptime to their name. Four drivers, including round one podium-finisher Rafael Perard did not leave the pits at all.

Drivers went on either two or three runs in qualifying, and Munoz had already set a lap good enough for pole on his second which meant he had an easy final five minutes to the half-hour session while many of his rivals headed back out on track for another go at taking first place.

Nobody in the top 13 was able to improve with their last-minute efforts, and Munoz ended qualifying fastest by 0.063s over Montego Maassen. The pair were matched on pace at the top of the times in pre-event testing.

Jules Roussel and Perard were 0.203s and 0.252s off Munoz’s paces, and just 0.086s split Louis Iglesias in fifth and Hugo Herrouin in ninth.

Drivers’ second-best laptimes set race three’s grid, and a 1m16.667s earned Munoz his third pole from four in 2025. He was 0.12s ahead of Maassen, with Roussel and Perard also breaking the 1m17s barrier twice. Guillaume Bouzar, Herrouin and Dorison were the only other drivers within half a second of Munoz’s pole-setting time.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Alexandre Munoz 1m16.560s
2 Montego Maassen +0.063s
3 Jules Roussel +0.203s
4 Rafael Perard +0.252s
5 Louis Iglesias +0.415s
6 Guillaume Bouzar +0.426s
7 Malo Bolliet +0.461s
8 Hugo Herrouin +0.501s
9 Arthur Dorison +0.508s
10 Rintaro Sato +0.621s

Race 3 grid
1 Munoz 1m16.667s
2 Maassen +0.120s
3 Roussel +0.127s
4 Perard +0.213s
5 Bouzar +0.340s
6 Herrouin +0.479s
7 Dorison +0.483s
8 Andy Consani +0.566s
9 Bolliet +0.568s
10 Iglesias +0.571s

The post Munoz makes it three poles out of four in French F4 with Dijon double appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FFSA Academy

Honda junior Taito Kato claimed a double win ahead of the French Formula 4 championship leader Yani Stevenheydens at Dijon.

With Stevenheydens crashing out of race two, Kato has closed to just six points behind ahead of the final round at Paul Ricard, with Jules Caranta now a further 11 points back after missing a chance to win the reversed-grid encounter.

After taking a double pole in qualifying on Friday, Kato comfortably won Saturday’s opening race, creating a gap of 3.5 seconds to Stevenheydens following an early safety car.

Jules Caranta, who came into the weekend just nine points behind Stevenheydens, slipped behind Dylan Estre to seventh at the start. He reclaimed the place after the restart and went on to take fifth from Augustin Bernier on the next lap, finishing in that position behind Frank Porte Ruiz and Jules Roussel.

Stevenheydens tangled with Augustin Bernier on the first lap of race two, with both cars sent crashing hard into the barriers.

Estre had started from pole but lost out to Chester Kieffer at the start, but at the restart dived to Kieffer’s inside at the first corner, forcing his rival wide into the gravel.

While Caranta swept from fifth to take the lead, Estre rejoined down in fifth, but within a lap he was side-by-side again into Turn 1 with Caranta and Jason Leung for the lead. A few corners later he could retake the led away from Caranta.

The younger brother of Porsche factory sportscar racer Kevin Estre went on to take his first single-seater win, while Montego Maassen, son of former Porsche stalwart Sascha, came through to beat Caranta to second for his first podium finish.

Kato, saving tyres for the final race, finished outside the points in 11th.

He would lead from to start to finish again in race three though, this time by a larger margin of 4.4s over Stevenheydens. That was despite a mid-race safety car after Gabriel Doyle-Parfait ran wide and into the barriers while racing Alex O’Grady.

Maassen completed his best weekend of the season so far after taking third place away from Porte Ruiz at the restart. Caranta finished sixth behind Bernier.

Results round-up

Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Taito Kato 22m26.915s
2 Yani Stevenheydens +3.523s
3 Frank Porte Ruiz +6.760s
4 Jules Roussel +7.277s
5 Jules Caranta +8.315s
6 Augustin Bernier +12.993s
7 Montego Maassen +13.130s
8 Dylan Estre +15.693s
9 Rayan Caretti +16.285s
10 Chester Kieffer +17.198s
FL: Kato, 1m17.285s

Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Estre 21m29.027s
2 Maassen +0.791s
3 Caranta +2.194s
4 Jason Leung +2.648s
5 Caretti +7.834s
6 Porte Ruiz +10.585s
7 Gabriel Doyle-Parfait +11.339s
8 Roussel +11.826s
9 Leonardo Megna +12.618s
10 Mathilda Paatz +13.307s
FL: Maassen, 1m17.832s

Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Kato 22m22.870s
2 Stevenheydens +4.401s
3 Maassen +5.262s
4 Porte Ruiz +7.461s
5 Bernier +8.964s
6 Caranta +10.065s
7 Kieffer +10.266s
8 Caretti +10.638s
9 Enzo Caldaras +12.903s
10 Estre +15.770s
FL: Kato, 1m17.453s

Championship standings
1 Stevenheydens 252   2 Kato 246   3 Caranta 235   4 Kieffer 116   5 Caretti 109   6 Porte Ruiz 99   7 Bernier 92   8 Maassen 60   9 Roussel 58   10 Megna 48

The post Kato does Dijon double ahead of Stevenheydens in French F4 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FFSA Academy

Honda junior Taito Kato claimed two pole positions in the penultimate round of the French Formula 4 season at Dijon.

Friday’s track action began with free practice, and Kato was pipped to top spot by just 0.011 seconds. Yani Stevenheydens was the driver who beat him, setting a 1m17.364s early on.

Jason Leung was 0.359s behind in third, with everyone else more than half a second off the pace. Stevenheydens’ closest title rival Jules Caranta was eighth fastest, 0.785s from the top.

Laptimes improved when drivers headed back out in the afternoon for qualifying, and the battle for pole was settled midway through the session. Kaito set a 1m16.883s on his seventh lap of 13, with Stevenheydens coming 0.088s short of matching him on his eighth lap of 15.

Jules Roussel only set nine laps, fewer than anyone else, but was still able to go third fastest and was only 0.159s off pole. Augustin Bernier was a further 0.021s behind, and Frank Porte Ruiz qualified fifth.

Caranta may have only been 0.287s slower than Kaito, but that was only good enough for sixth in a closely fought session where 0.468s covered the top 10 and 20 drivers got within a second of Kaito’s benchmark.

Kaito secured another pole by being top of the order when it came to drivers’ second-best laptimes. His 1m16.968s earned him top spot by 0.194s over Stevenheydens, with Bernier 0.266s off pole in third. Montego Maassen, Caranta, Roussel, Porte Ruiz and Jason Leung filled the top eight positions.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Taito Kato 1m16.883s
2 Yani Stevenheydens +0.088s
3 Jules Roussel +0.159s
4 Augustin Bernier +0.180s
5 Frank Porte Ruiz +0.227s
6 Jules Caranta +0.287s
7 Montego Maassen +0.380s
8 Jason Leung +0.444s
9 Chester Kieffer +0.451s
10 Dylan Estre +0.468s

Race 3 grid
1 Kato 1m16.968s
2 Stevenheydens +0.194s
3 Bernier +0.266s
4 Maassen +0.356s
5 Caranta +0.357s
6 Roussel +0.393s
7 Porte Ruiz +0.457s
8 Leung +0.471s
9 Estre +0.481s
10 Enzo Caldaras +0.584s

The post Honda junior Kato takes two French F4 poles at Dijon appeared first on Formula Scout.

Caio Collet made a late pass on Adam Eteki to win the third and final French Formula 4 race at Dijon and increase his championship lead.

From fourth on the grid, Collet gained a place from a slow-starting Pierre-Louis Chovet at the start, as pole-sitter Eteki used the inside line to keep race one winner Ugo de Wilde at bay.

By the end of the first lap, Collet was challenging de Wilde, and eventually got past shortly before half-distance around the outside of Turn 1.

Collet immediately reduced Eteki’s advantage from one second to 0.6s, and then down to 0.3s on the next lap.

Eteki initially responded to the threat, but the gap came back down again towards the end, and Collet got a very good run down the pit straight with a minute-and-a-half left on the clock.

The Brazilian claimed the inside line and managed to sneak past Eteki to take his third win of the season.

Ulysse de Pauw came from eighth on the grid to complete the podium, passing fellow Belgian de Wilde around the outside of the first corner with four minutes to go.

Collet’s points lead is now 23.5 points over de Wilde, who was beaten to fourth by Theo Nouet.

De Pauw is two points further behind in third, and Eteki another three points back in fourth.

After his win in race two, Nouet went on a charge in the latter part of the race with moves on Chovet, Arthur Leclerc and de Wilde.

Behind Leclerc and Chovet, Theo Pourchaire finished eighth with O’Neill Muth ninth and Shihab Al Habsi 10th.

Race results (16 laps)

The post Caio Collet wins final Dijon French F4 race with late move appeared first on Formula Scout.

Theo Nouet won the reversed-grid French Formula 4 race at Dijon, pulling away as Arthur Leclerc defended second place.

Shihab Al Habsi made a good start from pole position to lead comfortably through the first corner, but the Omani teenager was passed by Nouet down the main straight at the end of the first lap.

Nouet was able to build a gap of nearly two seconds in the two-and-a-half laps before Leclerc passed Al Habsi, and he was able to just keep extending that advantage, eventually sealing his maiden win by 6.4 seconds.

Instead of attacking Nouet, Leclerc had to defend from Esteban Muth, who he had originally passed at the first corner of the race.

In each of the last three laps, Muth made a bid to pass Leclerc at Turn 1, but Leclerc held on brilliantly to the place each time – twice by holding the inside line and then on the final lap by cutting back after Muth had gone down the inside under braking.

Caio Collet and Ulysse de Pauw finished on the tail of this battle, the Brazilian having got ahead of the Belgian at the start on his way to increasing his championship lead.

Theo Pourchaire was sixth, just ahead of race one podium finishers Adam Eteki, Pierre-Louis Chovet and Ugo de Wilde.

Al Habsi slipped back to 11th in the end, with Matteo Herrero taking 10th place away a few laps from the end.

The post Nouet wins ahead of Leclerc in Dijon French F4 race two appeared first on Formula Scout.

Ugo de Wilde got his French Formula 4 title hopes back on track with a lights-to-flag win in the first race at Dijon.

The second-year driver’s first victory since the opening race of the season at Nogaro cuts his deficit to championship leader Caio Collet (who finished fifth) from 14.5 to 1.5 points, after he finished no higher than seventh across his home races at Spa last time out.

On the championship’s first visit to Dijon since 2007 – the year Jean-Eric Vergne was champion -? de Wilde was quickest in both practice and qualifying, before keeping the lead at the start of the race.

Behind him, Pierre-Louis Chovet got past Adam Eteki at the start, and managed to remain within a second of de Wilde for most of the race.

Chovet could not shake Eteki however, and Eteki passed him around the outside of the first corner with three minutes to go to reclaim second place.

It also allowed de Wilde to escape, winning by 1.1 seconds.

The scrap between Eteki and Chovet also enabled Theo Pourchaire to close in, with Collet on his tail after getting the jump on the Brazilian at the start.

Spa winner Ulysse de Pauw was sixth in front of Arthur Leclerc, with Esteban Muth, Theo Nouet and Shihab Al Habsi rounding out the top 10.

Lucas Petersson, the Dubai-based Swedish-Argentine driver who finished fourth in the 2017-18 United Arab Emirates F4 series, is making his French F4 debut at Dijon and finished 14th.

Stuart White, who won the last race at Spa, is absent from Dijon, instead competing in Formula Ford 1600 in his native South Africa, where he has a chance to land a place on the Mazda Road to Indy Shootout.

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