Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

The Race Performance Motorsport team has named its drivers for the 2025 Formula Regional European Championship.

Joining 18-year-old sophomore Giovanni Maschio in the Italian team’s line-up this season will be Enzo Peugeot and Enzo Yeh.

Maschio has plenty of FRegional experience, having done two-and-a-half seasons in FRegional Middle East and two in FREC. Two top-10 finishes are his best results from 76 races in the category.

“I am happy to have another chance with the team,” said Mashio. “Last year didn’t go as we were hoping for, but this year we will try to maximise everything and try to achieve what we missed last year. Big thanks to the team and to my family for giving me this huge opportunity.”

Peugeot moves across to R-P-M from Sainteloc Racing, with who he did several FRME rounds and the full FREC season last year. He came 15th in the standings, making the top five twice. Before FRegional, the 19-year-old was 2023 French Formula 4 runner-up.

Yeh recently stepped up to FRegional via the Oceania championship, and was the second top rookie down in 11th in the standings. For the previous two years the 16-year-old had been competing in F4, making the podium in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates and also racing in Italian F4 and E4 (nee Euro 4).

“I’m glad to be joining R-P-M for the 2025 FREC season. It’s an incredible opportunity to be part of such a dynamic and forward-thinking team,” said Yeh. “I can’t wait to contribute our progress on the track, and share this inspiring journey with all the wonderful fans supporting us.”

The post Race Performance Motorsport names FREC drivers for 2025 appeared first on Formula Scout.

40. Enzo Fittipaldi

Down 26 • Scored more F2 podiums, and a breakthrough win

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Fittipaldi surprised with Charouz Racing System in Formula 2 last year, but was unable to win, and after becoming a Red Bull junior he joined Rodin Carlin in an attempt to make the ultimate step. Carlin had come second in the teams’ standings in 2022.

His 2023 season was pretty much like the previous one. He finished in the points more often, but scored two fewer points, in a campaign that was shorter by three races. Fittipaldi improved his championship position too, but only by one place as he came seventh in the standings, and en route to outscoring team-mate Zane Maloney he achieved a desired maiden win.

That success came in a sprint race though. It was at Spa-Francorchamps, where Fittipaldi enjoyed his best weekend of the year as following up his win by finishing third in the feature race after fending off Maloney in the closing laps.

In 2024 he will be Van Amersfoort Racing’s lead driver, with his F2 experience to be used in the development of the new car.

39. Rafael Camara

Down 2 • Consistently strong in FRegional but couldn’t break into the title fights

Photo: Prema

Photo: FRECA

It is difficult to shine when your team-mate is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but Camara managed to showcase his talent for the second year in a row alongside the young Italian star.

The Ferrari junior made his Formula Regional debut at the start of the year in the Middle East championship, where he finished third with six podiums to his name but no wins. Therefore he was far from challenging champion Antonelli and even PHM Racing’s championship runner-up Taylor Barnard who was 21 points ahead.

In the European championship he claimed pole positions, podium and wins, but again was never in the title fight.

The Brazilian excelled in race one at both Spa-Francorchamps and the Red Bull Ring, as he won both quite comfortably from pole. He had pole again for race one at Monza but ended up in retiring due to a mechanical failure. The next day he had just overtaken Antonelli for the lead of race two when red flags waved and without a restart the results were taken from the previous lap. That meant he was classified second. Had it all gone right at the Temple of Speed, he would have been fourth in the championship as he only missed out on that position to VAR’s Kas Haverkort by one point.

Camara will stay with Prema for a second FREC season in 2024.

38. Enzo Peugeot

New entry • Pau excellence launched French F4 title bid

Photo: Enzo Peugeot

Photo: KSP Reportages

Peugeot conquered wet and dry conditions to win the Pau Grand Prix, and did so from third on the grid. He held that position in a five-car lead train until a safety car and then red flag period as rain hit. When racing eventually resumed a long time later, Peugeot bravely passed Kevin Foster for second then pressured Evan Giltaire until he found a corner with enough grip off-line to go past him into the lead.

There were then more laps spent behind the safety car, and after the final restart Peugeot pulled away to comfortably win.

The Pau weekend was the highlight of his French Formula 4 season, as he won race one and finished second in race two at the track before winning the grand prix. Furthermore, he was also a double winner at Misano and Ledenon. A reversed-grid race win at Spa-Francorchamps and podium at Nogaro helped his points haul, but left him just short of the title by four points after a far from ideal last round at Paul Ricard.

37. Louis Sharp

New entry • Won the British F4 title as a protege of his team’s owner

Photo: JEP

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Rodin protege Sharp already caught the eye as a rookie in British F4 in 2022. Despite not being old enough to contest the opening round, he won twice and finished fourth overall – before winning both F4 support races at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

He returned to British F4 this year with Carlin as a strong title and made a fine start, winning the season opener from the front row and the second race of the weekend from 20th on the reversed grid.

Sharp struggled to kick on from that over the following rounds as wins were shared around much of the grid, and impressively consistent rookie Will Macintyre took over the points lead.

But a double win at Croft after the summer break was the start of a stronger run-in for Sharp. Going into the Brands Hatch decider just one point ahead of Macintyre, he rose to the occasion to clinch a deserved title in convincing fashion.

36. Simon Sikes

New entry • Reaped the rewards of a full-time USF2000 programme

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Sikes managed to complete just about half a USF2000 season in each of the last three years, but moving from Legacy Autosport to Pabst Racing for 2023 meant he finally got to do a whole campaign. And even when he joined the team, he initially only had the budget for one test day.

The paddock already knew Sikes could be quick, as he got four podiums in a row in 2021, but the scale of his success this year was probably not predicted by many as he took six wins, eight other podiums, seven poles and nine fastest laps to win the title by 103 points. Only 26 points covered second to sixth in the standings.

Although Sikes didn’t have any unbeaten weekends, he did make the podium in all three races of the Portland finale as well as the Sebring and Toronto double-headers. His most dominant display was in race three at Mid-Ohio, where in 14 laps of green flag action he built a lead of 10.3 seconds. Sikes will stay with Pabst for the step up to USF Pro 2000.

35. Kush Maini

New entry • Surprise F2 package caught the eye

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Maini took a big risk stepping up to F2 after a bittersweet FIA F3 season where speed wasn’t accompanied with results, but he obtained high reward.

The Indian surprised everyone — his team included — with a rocket start to the season, which had him fourth in the standings with 49 points after ten races. He also stepped on the podium in the Melbourne sprint race.

The Indian would only score 13 more points over the remainder of the season as Campos Racing became less competitive and struggled with tyre degradation. Notwithstanding, he had the chance to showcase his talent in several qualifying sessions, with second at Silverstone and third at Yas Marina Circuit his best results.

His strong performances resulted in him becoming an Alpine junior ahead of the season’s last round, as well as being signed as Mahindra’s reserve driver in Formula E.

Now also mentored by F1 double world champion Mika Hakkinen, Maini will go up against 2023 FIA F3 champion and Fernando Alonso’s protege Gabriel Bortoleto at Invicta Racing (formerly known as Virtuosi Racing) in F2 next year.

34. Alessandro Giusti

Up 12 • Hot conditions in France opened the doors for winning FREC form

Photo: FRECA

Photo: Niels Broekema

Giusti built on his French F4 title from last year as he stepped up to FREC with G4 Racing, and proved he could take the challenge to more experienced drivers at that level.

The Frenchman debuted with seventh place at Imola then scored just a single point in the next nine races. Then at a hot Paul Ricard he stormed to pole and won race one convincingly, which he followed up with fifth place in race two. Giusti excelled again next time out at the Red Bull Ring, where he was second in race one then won race two from pole. He followed that up at Monza by inheriting race one victory after Antonelli and ART Grand Prix’s Marcus Amand hit penalties.

Those results lifted him to sixth in the standings, where he remained despite taking one point in the last five races, and he was second in FREC’s rookie classification. He outscored his team-mate Michael Belov, a FRegional veteran, by 87 points over 16 races.

33. Richard Verschoor

Down 11 • F2 underdog made marginal gains with his fourth team

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Photo: Formula Motorspot Ltd

Like in 2022, Verschoor was often the underdog in F2, but this time with VAR. He came ninth in the championship with 108 points, scoring 89% of VAR’s tally to do the heavy lifting in earning them seventh in the teams’ standings.

A remarkable drive from 11th on the grid earned him his maiden feature race victory at the Red Bull Ring, the same place he was denied it the previous year due to not having enough fuel left in his car at the end of the race.

Then he struggled at both Silverstone and the Hungaroring. However, he put his season back on track with strong performances in the Spa and Zandvoort feature races and then podiums in the Monza and Yas Marina sprint races.

Post-season he returned to F3 with Trident for the Macau Grand Prix, seeking to defend his 2019 FIA World Cup crown, but could only finish sixth after a weekend where he was never in the mix.

The Italian team has also obtained his services for the 2024 F2 season, and he is “eager to work tirelessly on developing the new car together”.

32. Esteban Masson

Re-entry (41st in 2021) • Bounced back from 2022 in style, at least in Eurocup-3

Photo: Spanish F4

Photo: Campos Racing

The 2021 French F4 champion needed to redirect his career after a tough 2022 FREC season where he drove for FA Racing and ART Grand Prix and scored a sole point. And he did so.

With limited budget, Masson signed with Campos Racing to compete in Eurocup-3 — a new continental FRegional-based series with restrained costs and an upgraded car.

He had a slow start to the season at Spa a with sixth and a seventh place, but soon got up to speed. He won twice in round two at Motorland Aragon, and would double up again at Zandvoort and Barcelona’s season finale. In between, he also topped the podium at Estoril and Valencia.

Masson went to Barcelona just one point ahead of main title rival Mari Boya and 15 points clear of Sebastian Ogaard. A perfect weekend there, scoring 56 out of 56 points, meant he was crowned champion with a 30-point advantage.

He also took part in selected FREC rounds with Sainteloc Racing, achieving better results than in 2022. His best was a second place on home soil at Paul Ricard. He was classified 16th with 39 points, having missed four of of the 10 rounds.

An excellent pirvate test  in a GT3 car earned him a drive in Kessel Racing’s GTE Am-class Ferrari in the World Endurance Championship finale at Bahrain, where he also shone. As a consequence, he is moving on to endurance racing in 2024 with ASP Team and will drive one of its Lexuses in WEC’s new LMGT3 class.

31. Dennis Hauger

Down 7 • Small improvements weren’t enough to regularly shine in F2

Photo: Red Bull

Photo: Red Bull

On the surface, Hauger’s second season in F2 looked much like his first, and once again he was with the reigning champion team. This time it was MP Motorsport rather than Prema, and like the previous year he took two wins and two other sprint race podiums.

He was also team-mate to Jehan Daruvala again. Last year Daruvala had the upper hand by 11 points and three positions in the standings, while in 2023 the gap was 54 points and four championship places but in Hauger’s favour against a team-mate in his fourth year in F2.

The start of the season didn’t go well for Hauger, with an engine issue putting him out of the Bahrain feature race and then red flags denying him a shot at pole in Melbourne. He finished second and first respectively in the sprint races at those two tracks, which stood as his only podiums until round nine at the Hungaroring where he took another sprint race win after a lowly qualifying position.

A sprint race podium and a retirement at Spa followed, and consistent scoring thereon meant Hauger came eighth in the standings. That didn’t meet Red Bull’s expectations, meaning he has lost his junior status for 2024, but he did end this year by returning to F3 and finishing second in the Macau GP.

The post Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2023: 40-31 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Sainteloc Racing

Sainteloc Racing has completed its 2024 Formula Regional European Championship line-up with Spanish Formula 4 champion Theophile Nael joining fellow rookies Matteo de Palo and Enzo Peugeot.

After winning multiple national karting titles in France, Nael made the move up to F4 in Spain as soon as he turned 15, joining Sainteloc’s fledgling junior single-seater project from its creation and scoring 11 points in 12 races.

Staying within the Sainteloc fold this year, he came 11th in F4 United Arab Emirates then in a very competitive Spanish F4 field took the title with eight victories and five poles.

De Palo is a fellow graduate of Spanish F4, and came fifth in the 2023 standings for Campos Racing with one win as a rookie.

The Italian karting graduate had made his car racing debut with a race-winning cameo for Campos in the Formula Winter Series, and also impressed in a one-off Italian F4 appearance with R-ace GP and two British F4 rounds with Argenti Motorsport.

Sainteloc’s squad is completed by Peugeot, this year’s French F4 runner-up. The 17-year-old French-Japanese driver made his F4 debut in the final round of 2021 before finishing fifth in his first full season in 2022.

Returning to the championship this year, he took seven wins, including victory in the prestigious Pau Grand Prix, before ultimately losing out to Evan Giltaire by just four points in the title fight.

Peugeot started karting in 2016, taking the French junior title in 2020, before progressing to cars via the FEED Racing France shootout. All three drivers have recently been testing Sainteloc’s FRegional car at Imola, impressing the team in the process.

Sainteloc’s managing director Morgan Caron told Formula Scout: “We are very delighted to welcome Matteo, Theophile and Enzo into the team for the upcoming season in FREC.

“They are all very talented – showing significant results in F4 – and based on the very strong pace they have shown during the first winter tests, we have a strong line-up to fight for the title.”

Sainteloc struggled initially in 2023 with an all-rookie line-up in FREC before bringing Esteban Masson on board to help confirm that the team was going in the right direction. However, Caron says that the team is “not scared to have a full rookie line-up” in 2024.

“Next year it will be a year with a lot of rookies in FREC,” he said. “I’m convinced with a good winter preparation, [including] maybe some races during January and February [in FRegional Middle East] in UAE, the drivers can arrive and be straight in the game for victory from the first round.”

The post Nael, de Palo and Peugeot form Sainteloc’s all-rookie 2024 FREC line-up appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP Reportages

There was little green flag action in the third French Formula 4 race at Ledenon, which was won by Enzo Peugeot.

The points leader made a strong start from pole to lead Kevin Foster, while Evan Giltaire rose from fifth to third before the safety car appeared.

Louis Schlesser had spun into the gravel at turn five, and a corner later Paul Alberto and Yani Stevenheydens had collided and gone into the turn six barriers. Joao Paulo Diaz Balesteiro also struck drama, having to pit for a new front wing at the end of lap one and dropping well over two minutes behind the front of the field.

The safety car released the field on lap five, and fifth-placed Max Reis was spun around then later crashed into by Leonardo Megna. Frank Porte-Ruiz broke his rear wing in a seperate incident, and also retiring were Gabriel Doyle-Parfait and Edgar Pierre.

The safety car had to come straight back out, and on lap seven the race was suspended entirely due to the lengthy recovery jobs taking place.

Initially that meant the results were taken from the end of lap five for a restart, but when race control eventually did decide to restart the race the action began from lap eight.

That took place behind the safety car, before the field were released to race each other again on lap nine.

The top three held position, and Romain Andriolo fell from fourth to sixth behind Hiyu Yamakoshi and Enzo Richer.

Tom Kalender was in seventh but went off at turn three and rejoined after an incident with Jason Leung, and then pitted to retire at the end of the penultimate lap. Karel Schulz dropped out of the top 10, and the race entirely, by beaching their car in the turn 12 gravel on the final lap while Finn Wiebelhaus and Balasteiro had an incident that is now under investigation.

Peugeot’s winning margin over Foster was 0.98 econds, with Giltaire a further 0.318s behind in third. There was a big gap to Yamakoshi in fourth, and Andriolo got back past Richer to finish fifth.

Race result (11 laps)

The post Peugeot wins suspended French F4 race at Ledenon appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP Reportages

Enzo Peugeot moved into the French Formula 4 points lead with victory in the first race of the weekend at Ledenon.

It was a lights-to-flag win from pole for Peugeot, with the top five on the grid all holding their starting positions to the finish.

Although Peugeot never looked challenged up front by Kevin Foster, the gap between them shrank from 1.5 seconds to 0.9s in the final third of the race.

Max Reis at times was able to hold a similar gap over Enzo Richer in third place, but over the last two laps the pair closed up and Reis only held on to his podium spot in a photo finish by 0.065s.

Romain Andriolo spent much of the race watching Richer ahead but keeping an eye on pre-race points leader Evan Giltaire behind, with Giltaire having got into sixth after he, Paul Alberto and Yani Stevenheydens passed Andrei Duna on lap three of 16.

More dramatic moments including an opening lap retirement for Adrien Closmenil, a lap four incident between Leonardo Megna and Hiyu Yamakoshi which ended the race for the latter, and a lap seven clash for Karel Schulz and Jason Leung that sent both into retirement. The latter two incidents are under investigation.

Edgar Pierre lost 18th place to a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flag conditions.

Stevenheydens beat Yamakoshi to score a maiden win in the reversed-grid second race.

The latter started from pole and kept the lead as Andrei Duna struggled to move away from second on the grid, but Stevenheydens got away well enough from third to get alongside Yamakoshi a few corners later, just as the safety car was deployed.

Stevenheydens emerged briefly ahead but backed off to slot back in behind his rival while the car of Karel Schulz was retrieved from the gravel trap on the outside of the long first corner. Adrien Closmenil, who started directly behind Schulz, pitted with damage and would eventually also retire.

At the restart, Stevenheydens was less than a tenth of a second behind Yamakoshi as they crossed the start-finish line, and the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium protege would find his way past into the lead later that lap.

Yamakoshi finished 2.14s behind in second place but 4.4s ahead of Giltaire, who had to keep Alberto behind at the end.

Richer took fifth after passing Andriolo, who was then involved in contact with Duna that allowed Foster to slip past him into sixth.

Peugeot also benefitted to take eighth after dropping from 10th to 11th at the start, ultimately finishing ahead of the ADAC-supported trio of Reis, Finn Wiebelhaus and Tom Kalender.

Results round-up
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Enzo Peugeot 21m57.678s
2 Kevin Foster +0.929s
3 Max Reis +7.120s
4 Enzo Richer +7.185s
5 Romain Andriolo +7.756s
6 Evan Giltaire +8.343s
7 Paul Alberto +16.570s
8 Yani Stevenheydens +19.208s
9 Andrei Duna +21.892s
10 Tom Kalender +23.502s
Fastest lap: Peugeot, 1m21.592s

Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Stevenheydens 21m32.868s
2 Hiyu Yamakoshi +2.140s
3 Giltaire +6.546s
4 Alberto +6.868s
5 Richer +7.966s
6 Foster +13.851s
7 Andriolo +15.358s
8 Peugeot +17.336s
9 Reis +20.121s
10 Finn Wiebelhaus +20.330s
FL: Stevenheydens, 1m21.674s

Championship standings
1 Peugeot 250   2 Giltaire 246   3 Foster 170   4 Andriolo 161  5 Yamakoshi 119  6 Garrett Berry 94   7 Stevenheydens 88  8 Richer 62   9 Edgar Pierre 55  10 Pol Lopez 53

The post Peugeot takes French F4 lead with Ledenon win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Enzo Peugeot

Enzo Peugeot was fastest in a heavily disrupted French Formula 4 qualifying session at Ledenon.

Hiyu Yamakoshi was quickest at first, setting a 1m28.515s, then five minutes in Evan Giltaire went to the top with a 1m22.358s.

He topped the timesheet for only half a minute before Kevin Foster set a 1m22.235s, and a minute after that Romain Andriolo lowered the pace to 1m21.909s.

Enzo Peugeot got within 0.178s of Andriolo, then Foster went 0.076s faster but had his lap deleted for track limits abuse and so Andriolo returned to top spot.

Giltaire reduced Andriolo’s advantage to 0.095s eight minutes into the 25-minute session, and nine-and-a-half minutes in Foster went quickest again with a 1m21.715s while Peugeot set a 1m21.775s.

Andriolo improved to 1m21.792s in third place before red flags waved and stopped qualifying for six minutes.

There was four minutes of track action following the restart, with the session clock frozen during the stoppage, before red flags waved again as Leonardo Megna beached his car in the gravel at turn three.

There was a seven-minute stoppage, and drivers still had eight minutes to improve their pace when the second restart occurred. But little over two minutes after that, qualifying was stopped for a third time as Frank Porte Ruiz copied Megna in sending his car into the turn three gravel trap.

So after another break of 12 minutes, drivers headed out of the pitlane again with just under six minutes remaining on the session clock.

The next change at the top came with two minutes to go, as Enzo Peugeot set a 1m21.686s to unseat Foster from first place. Max Reis went third fastest with a 1m21.725s, and Enzo Richer set a 1m21.791s to slot into fourth before yellow flags were waved once again at turn three.

But this time there was no further disruption and it meant drivers had enough time to go for improvements on their next laps. Giltaire did just that, setting a 1m21.670s to take pole. But the lap was then deleted and he fell down to seventh place, with Peugeot returning to the top.

Foster did not rejoin the action with the last two restarts, but his early benchmark was enough for him to still be the second fastest driver in the session ahead of Reis, Richer, Andriolo and Paul Alberto.

Peugeot earned two poles from the session, as he had the fastest second-best lap of anyone. His 1m21.755s was just 0.013s faster than Foster’s second-best effort, with Andriolo and Alberto qualifying third and fourth with laptimes just 0.071s and 0.085s slower than Peugeot’s.

Giltaire is an improved fifth on the grid based on second-best laptimes, with the top 23 covered by 0.919s.

Qualifying results

The post Peugeot bags two poles in disrupted French F4 qualifying at Ledenon appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP Reportages

Enzo Peugeot won from pole in French Formula 4’s third race at Misano in Italy, with most of the action taking place behind the safety car.

Frank Porte Ruiz was spun out of 11th by Leonardo Megna and third-placed Romain Andriolo broke off the left endplate on Andrei Duna’s front wing with an agressive defence on lap one, then on lap two Yani Stevenheydens and Max Reis had an incident at turn four that led to Reis ending up in the gravel at the next corner.

The safety car came out as a result of that, and the lap five restart was short-lived as Hiyu Yamakoshi mounted the rear of Megna’s car and both were out on the spot.

Racing was neutralised for a second time until lap eight, with the top nine positions unchanged from the grid order. Finally there were was some overtaking, as Kevin Foster passed Edgar Pierre for fifth and Garrett Berry moved past Karel Schulz and Louis Schlesser into seventh.

On the next lap Duna fell out of fourth place as he mysteriously slowed then came to a stop on track, while Peugeot had to get defensive against Evan Giltaire.

Peugeot ran wide exiting the final corner on lap 10, the penultimate lap of the race, and he then cut turn one to stay ahead. But Giltaire did manage to get past, briefly, and they then ran side-by-side through the next corners.

A lock-up from Peugeot meant Giltaire moved into the lead again, and this time Peugeot drove into the back of him. The contact was light enough for Giltaire not to spin around, and he held off Peugeot until the penultimate corner.

Peugeot went off-track on the run to the corner, rejoined before the turn-in but cut across the inside kerbs to actually make the corner. That put him alongside Giltaire as they exited it, and Giltaire then ran wide and off-track.

Going into the final corner it was Peugeot, who led, and despite running way off as he exited the corner he still held on to win and build his points lead over his main title rival.

Foster got alongside Andriolo several times on the last lap but could not deny him third place, and Pierre pipped Berry to fifth by just 0.076 seconds.

Race result (11 laps)

The post Peugeot beats Giltaire in final-lap fight for French F4 victory at Misano appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP Reportages

Enzo Peugeot moved ahead in the French Formula 4 championship on Saturday with two poles and a win at Misano in Italy.

Evan Giltaire joined Peugeot on the race one front row, but was passed by Romain Andriolo on lap one. On lap two there was a sign of the chaos to come as Adrien Closmenil was hit off but rejoined in the first sector, then it all erupted at turn 10.

Hiyu Yamakoshi spun due to contact with another driver, and Tom Kalender spun trying to avoid him. Luca Savu went to the inside of Kalender but run over his front wing, while Yaroslav Veselaho went around the outside of the incident and at the exit of the corner converged with Savu who squeezed him onto the gravel as he went past. Veselaho’s rear-right wheel tagged Savu’s front-left and it sent him rolling down the straight.

The safety car was called out, and the incident was cleared in time for racing to resume on lap five. More drama occurred at turn 10 as Leonardo Megna and Louis Schlesser spun and then came to a stop, the latter with a broken front-right wheel.

Edouard Borgna broke his front-left wheel in an unrelated incident and he hobbled around before stopping on track, requiring the safety car to come out again on lap six.

But racing was back underway the lap after, and Giltaire took second from Andriolo into turn one. He then ran too deep and they went side-by-side though the next corners. Giltaire stayed ahead after Andriolo locked up, and stayed in second to the chequered flag as he could not challenge winner Peugeot.

Andriolo came under intense pressure from Edgar Pierre on the final lap but held on to third, and Kevin Foster pipped Garrett Berry to fifth. Yani Stevenheydens came from 23rd on the grid to finish ninth, and Max Reis was put out of the race with a few laps to after being spun by Gabriel Doyle-Parfait.

Karel Schulz started on reversed-grid pole for race two, and held the lead while Megna and Berry fought over second. After Berry made a forceful but successful move, Megna clashed with Andrei Duna and it sent the latter spinning into the gravel while he dropped to 24th.

The safety car appeared, and racing resumed on lap three. Barry made a great move on Schulz to take the lead, and the action was clean until two laps later when Veselaho spun around Megna at turn eight and broke his own front-right wheel.

The next safety car period ran until lap eight, and Berry was under no threat up front. He managed his pace to the finish, with Foster finishing second and Andriolo third.

Schulz lost several spots before plummeting to 11th, and Peugeot moved into fifth after overtaking Pierre. He then pursued Schlesser and overtake him, and Schlesser went off when trying to regain the place.

Giltaire and Enzo Richer benefited, and Richer passed Giltaire to finish sixth. The move cost Giltaire the points lead.

Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Enzo Peugeot 22m16.668s
2 Evan Giltaire +1.226s
3 Romain Andriolo +2.580s
4 Edgar Pierre +2.910s
5 Kevin Foster +5.186s
6 Garrett Berry +5.412s
7 Andrei Duna +6.567s
8 Karel Schulz +8.435s
9 Yani Stevenheydens +9.142s
10 Frank Porte Ruiz +11.777s
Pole: Peugeot, 1m37.310s
Fastest lap: Giltaire, 1m37.591s

Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Berry
2 Foster +0.564s
3 Andriolo +2.168s
4 Peugeot +3.291s
5 Pierre +6.224s
6 Enzo Richer +6.459s
7 Giltaire +6.613s
8 Louis Schlesser +7.045s
9 Adrien Closmenil +7.846s
10 Schulz +11.104s
FL: Peugeot, 1m37.831s

Championship standings
1 Peugeot 204   2 Giltaire 203   3 Foster 136   4 Andriolo 134   5 Hiyu Yamakoshi 107   6 Berry 86   7 Stevenheydens 68   8 Pol Lopez 52   9 Pierre 43   10 Richer 42

The post Enzo Peugeot moves ahead in French F4 with Misano win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP Reportages

Enzo Peugeot won the reversed-grid French Formula 4 race at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday as the title fight tightened up.

Peugeot started third and a slow start from the pole-sitting Garrett Berry meant the top three went three-wide into the opening corner. One driver got their nose ahead before Raidillon, but then there was side-by-side action for the lead again down the Kemmel Straight and Peugeot put himself ahead of Berry and Romain Andriolo.

He spent the rest of the race with just enough of a gap out of the last and then first corners to avoid succumbing to the slipstream effect down the Kemmel Straight, although on the last lap he had to resist Andriolo’s attacks at Les Combes.

Berry held second place until lap five of 10, when Andriolo passed at the start of the lap and then Edgar Pierre made a diving move at the Bus Stop chicane and managed to make it work exiting the corner,

Pierre and Berry then went wheel-to-wheel all the way from the Kemmel Straight to beyond Bruxelles on lap six and Berry regained third, but a charging Hiyu Yamakoshi from eighth on the grid was soon on his tail after he passed Pierre on lap seven.

Peugeot won by 0.617 seconds over Andriolo, while Berry held on to third by 0.799s ahead of Pierre who battled back past Yamakoshi.

Evan Giltaire had his points lead reduced in seventh place, with fellow title contender Kevin Foster in eighth after Adrien Closmenil dropped to 10th on the last lap.

Race result (10 laps)

The post Enzo Peugeot wins French F4’s reversed-grid Spa race appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Ida Wood

One of the most iconic races in junior single-seaters was set to feature F3-level cars until just a week before, and it was an even later decision for the Pau GP to be an F4 race instead. Here’s how it played out

After two years where the COVID-19 pandemic meant the race was unable to go ahead, the Pau Grand Prix returned last year with a bold new vision centred around sustainability. The 2.76-kilometre street circuit in the south of France has been in use since 1933, but the lockdown-enforced break made it incredily hard for a 2022 comeback to be a possibility.

First there was the need to be ‘COVID-19 friendly’, then the requirement of local government approval and funding, and the usual battle against disgruntled residents of the city who don’t enjoy having their roads and park closed for four days. Then on top of that, some of the event infrastructure – such as barriers – had gone missing during the race’s absence.

But the 2022 return was a success, and featured the World Touring Car Cup, the new electric ETCR equivalent, as well as the Formula 3-level Euroformula series and the French Formula 4 championship. The latter series was running on a 100% mix biofuel from Repsol, and the event promoter put a focus on that as well as demos by the all-electric ERA single-seater and two prototype sportscars that were using hydrogen and biofuel respectively.

Formula Scout got to speak to the grand prix’s co-ordinator Joel Do Vale, who is also vice-president of France’s motorsport governing body the FFSA, and the vision was clear: biofuel and electric motors was the event’s future and would be the focus for 2023. With that message clearly publicised, it was then with some surprise that those plans fell apart this year.

After the finish of last weekend’s 80th edition of the Pau GP we caught up with Do Vale again, and started the conversation off by asking when did he and the event promoter (the local tourism board) get permission to run this year’s grand prix

“Pfftt. Too late,” he replied, chuckling. “I think it’s too late for an organiser. Here you see it’s difficult to find all the series in October [when we get clearance].

“But we had a lot of problems this year for the event. In October the WTCR stopped, then ETCR stopped, then ERA stopped, then Euroformula stopped for us [last week]. So you see.”

Euroformula announced its 2023 calendar last September, and it did not include Pau. Do Vale had instigated talks with Formula Regional European Championship representatives shortly after the 2022 grand prix about that series racing in Pau, and FREC dropped its round in Monaco. But talks did not progress as expected.

“Yeah, we were in contact with them, and I know them. But it was a little bit late to organise something, and to have [room for their paddock] for 23? But maybe next year, I don’t know.”

So Euroformula’s promoter GT Sport was then contacted in mid-January and a contract was signed for the series to host the titular race of the weekend for the third time after it had also famously raced in Pau in 2019 [pictured below]. Euroformula announced an updated calendar on January 24, with Mugello dropped for Pau. In March a deal was also signed for TCR Europe to take the spot WTCR vacated.

Then on May 5, just a week before track action begun on the city streets, Euroformula announced it was pulling out of the event and told Formula Scout it was planning a replacement round elsewhere.

Do Vale had been informed eight days before the announcement, and at least one local news outlet had figured out what was happening in that time period based on hotel room cancellations and that those help funding the event wanted a ‘low carbon’ race to promote. GT Sport cited that desire for series to run on biofuels as a technical requirement it could not meet having not tested biofuels during 2022 or in pre-season testing.

“It proved not possible to adjust the current engines of the Euroformula cars to the wishes of the organisers of the grand prix, its sponsors, and the city of Pau for a low-carbon emissions event, running on ‘greener’ fuels, a requirement that was not part of the agreement signed with the GP de Pau,” stated GT Sport.

Photo: Fotospeedy

“The studies and checks conducted showed that adapting the engines safely and effectively would require further engineering work, costly modifications, and testing.”

Do Vale thinks “it was a misunderstanding” that prompted GT Sport’s late decision.

“Because we wanted for the first time to have some fuel or some e-fuel [for the titular race], but it was impossible. Well they said it was impossible. No time to check the engine, or something like that,” he said.

“But we speak [back and forth] – and suddenly they decide to not come. But I think for me it’s not fair. It’s not really fair, because maybe the why [behind their decision is] they haven’t got enough cars, but they have to say earlier.”

Would he have let Euroformula race using standard fuel then? “Yeah, yeah. For example TCR Europe have not e-fuel, but they come.”

The touring car series does actually use biofuel, but a low percentage mix “which for me, is nothing” in Do Vale’s ambitions for the event. Particularly as French F4, which ended up adopting grand prix status for its Sunday race, uses 100% biofuel. And Do Vale confirms it was only on the week of the race the decision was made to promote the entry-level series to title billing.

“I’m vice-president, so it’s very easy for me to discuss with them [to make this decision]. But we had to change the regulations, because we have to have a race for 30 minutes, for example for it to be called the grand prix.

“Because I don’t want a race of 20mins. If I had a race of 20 minutes today, I would only really have had a safety car-led race! So we had to change the regulations, we had to change also the free practice and qualifying to accommodate 26 cars. It’s a little bit too much for us.”

Formula Scout corroborated Do Vale’s words with information from Euroformula sources, and it became apparent that the biofuel requirement was not included in the January discussions. This failure to mention it was possibly a major form of miscommunication on the organisers’ part given it was clear that the event’s desire to be a shop window for sustainable fuel was well known, and maybe almost didn’t merit mentioning to a series that had been present in 2022.

Then going the other way there was also a likely misunderstanding. Euroformula planned its 2023 calendar sans Pau as it didn’t use biofuel and presumed it wouldn’t be in contention to be part of the event.

Therefore when Do Vale came calling in January, it was easy to assume the reason talks were starting was because Pau deemed Euroformula to be eligible regardless.

And the key detail was the biofuel requirement was not mentioned in the contract signed that month. To Formula Scout’s understanding, only a considerable time later did the organisers reach out again asking politely about Euroformula’s biofuel plan. There wasn’t a plan.

Fuel specialists began talking to GT Sport’s technicians, and the consensus was that they couldn’t run the series’ engines unadapted on the suggested fuel without risk of breaking them. If the solution was to adjust the engines, then it posed the question of who was going to pay for the work on test beds and race tracks to deliver that. Pau hoped a solution could be found, but Euroformula said it did not look possible.

Then on April 25 the organisers contacted GT Sport and said, due to corporate and political pressure, they would be needing the titular race to run on biofuels. The financial support of the Pyrenees-Atlantiques department that Pau sits in was crucial not only for this year’s race but also to ensure the event has a future, while the main sponsor whose branding was visible all around the circuit was a company called ‘Clean Fuels For All’.

That meant Euroformula would lose the grand prix, but would still stay on the event schedule with its two planned races and in the time slots those had originally been penned down for. But when that potential outcome was put by GT Sport to its teams, the feedback was pretty clear and the event was basically told: ‘thank you for that consideration, but that’s not what we agreed when we signed to race here’.

Once Euroformula’s withdrawl was announced, some local press speculated that the titular race – which was yet to be settled on as going to French F4 – would potentially run as the ‘1st Grand Prix de Pau sans carbone’ rather than the 80th Pau GP.

The local Basco-Bearnais racing club helps organise the event, and supplied 90 of the 185 marshals that were working around the track last weekend. The FFSA was responsibile in-part for sourcing the rest, with a mixture of marshals from other French racing clubs and tracks as well as “some from Spain, from Germany, and I think Britain too”.

Given the difficulty in getting more sustainable series on track this year, does the biofuel target remain for 2024? “Maybe not all series, because we don’t know if it can [be produced to the required scale]. But normally yes, we try,” said Do Vale.

In terms of planning for 2024, and discussions with the local government, the only fact that looks certain so far is if the 81st edition of the grand prix goes ahead then it will be in May as is tradition. But otherwise almost nothing is set in stone.

“I want to speak to GB3,” revealed Do Vale. “British F3 was here in 2006 and 2012, and Lewis Hamilton won here in 2005. So why not? I have to speak to them. In a little bit, but I have to speak. In fact I need to [start talks] because FFSA we have to choose something now. Not in October, choose for 2024 now.”

Aside from the French F4 drivers who were now racing to win the Pau GP, with many in contention to become the youngest ever winner of a grand prix in single-seaters, there were few who thought it was a great look for the event to not only lose its headline series so close to the race date but also then for an entry-level car racing series to adopt grand prix status.

The calibre of the series, even though there is an appeal of having a French championship headline a historic French sporting event, is so low that if it looks like it might end up with headline billing again in 2024 then the local government is going to see decreased value in allowing the event to run given the disruption it causes.

It was already reflected in the spectator numbers this year, although rain through the weekend also contributed to emptier looking grandstands and vantage points than in 2022.

Wet weather actually hit the track during the grand prix race, requiring Do Vale – who was also working as the race director – to call for red flags so everybody could come into the pitlane and switch from slick to wet tyres. Due to French F4 being centrally run by the FFSA Academy, with one engineer responsible for several cars each and mechanics also shared across the grid, it meant the only fair way for all the drivers left in the race to do a tyre change while utilising a limited number of pit crew was to stop the race and restart it.

“Yeah, because it’s difficult to perform [all those stops], but as you know it was [getting wetter] so I have to give time to change tyres, to do everything, because I can not send a young driver on track slick tyres on wet,” said Do Vale.

“It’s impossible. It’s why it was difficult to change [in-race]. I had to stop the race. But it was not so bad [for the action].”

The rain stopped, then restarted and got even worse during the 17-minute red flag period, which required less patience from fans than the previous day’s reversed-grid race where the action was paused by a 50-minute stoppage. Because of the continuing rain, the safety car led the field away for the grand prix’s restart. It ended up being out for three laps, as two drivers retired and needed their cars recovered from the track.

Despite the rain, it was noticable in the F4 and the touring car races that the track was not lacking in grip, particularly at turn two and the long turn five left-hander that led into turn six, another corner where the brave attempted overtakes.

The bumpiness of the outside line into turn one [pictured above] contained its own difficulties, particularly for the driver on pole as that was the side their grid slot was on, but grand prix winner Enzo Peugeot made an overtake there that showed the tyre grip outdid the instability caused by the bumps. It was a trackside observation that prompted Formula Scout to ask Do Vale if there had been resurfacing since last year’s event.

“Yeah, yeah. It was resurfaced here [on the pit straight], and in turns one and two, and in turn five also!” Do Vale replied. “Yeah, exactly. Just at the beginning of turn five it was resurfaced, so it’s really nice now. I think it’s better.”

Do Vale’s opinion is all well and good, but what did the drivers make of their weekend? You can read reaction to the chaos of the reversed-grid race here, with that drama actually leading to two drivers missing Sunday’s race, and the grand prix report here. Below is the first words from the top three as Formula Scout caught the trio almost as soon as they vacated their cars.

1st: Enzo Peugeot

“After the restart, I really [bedded in] my tyres, I put some temperature into them, so I got good sensation with the car and so I was confident – and just won! Incredible.

“I took Kevin [Foster for second place] on the restart, so I got good traction [on the outside of turn one] but he didn’t get good traction. And afterm with Evan [Giltaire] I just surprised him and I passed. My second win [this weekend], it’s incredible.

2nd: Evan Giltaire

“I don’t know for the moment [how Enzo got by]. On the wet, I didn’t drive [badly] like it was my first time in the wet. So unfortunately I came only in second place. I will come back stronger at Spa-Francorchamps. Surely, I will be in the front. I’m sure about that.

“In the streets, it’s more difficult when it’s your first time. The visibility was very hard [once I was] behind.

“Of course [it was hard to warm the tyres on the restart], I was close to crash. It was really difficult.

“Not happy, because Enzo was coming back like crazy. But once we have [completed] Pau, I said I would be even more strong I think. So I’m really happy about that.

3rd: Yani Stevenheydens

“At first on the dry, the three in front of me had an advantage with the new tyres, so I was just trying to stay in connection with them. And then at one point there was a safety car, started raining in-between. After that, we came in to change the tyres and after that the conditions were really difficult.

“I was sliding a lot, and you couldn’t see anything. When you’re driving behind, the spray just blocked the whole view of driving. But I think I managed it quite well, overtaking Hiyu Yamakoshi into turn two with a late-braking manoeuvre. But apart from that and after that, it was just controlling the race. I felt like there was not a lot more to gain from it.

“I was happy with my third place seeing where I came from. I was really happy with that, so I just kept it calm and finished my race.

“It was difficult to warm-up the tyres. So you needed to manage it very well, a lot of braking. With the safety car that doesn’t go fast, it wasn’t as easy as well to warm-up the tyre, because at one point it started going even slower because there was a crash in the middle of the track. So they needed to clear a car out of the way. But I think I managed it well, and in the end tyre temperature was really good.”

The post The inside story of the 2023 Pau Grand Prix appeared first on Formula Scout.