Photo: Fotospeedy

The municipal council of the city of Pau sat yesterday for a session in which they confirmed their famous grand prix will not take place next year.

One of the focuses of the session was reviewing how this year’s budget was spent and presenting an initial 2024 budget. There were also key points about accelerating the use of renewable energy in the city and subsidising local sports associations.

Falling between the gaps of those two objectives is the city’s biggest sporting event, and one that is aiming to move towards using more sustainable energy. Last year the Formula 3-level Euroformula championship included the race in its calendar, then French Formula 4 did this year after Euroformula failed to meet the city’s biofuel requirement.

Pau’s mayor Francois Bayrou opened his statement about the race’s future by getting straight to the point: “We will not have a Pau Grand Prix in 2024, which will delight some and worry others.”

He said that last year the city had found private funding to finance the event, and off the back of that the council did not want to “expose public money” to make future editions happen even though it “is part of the city’s tradition” and “heritage”.

“So from this point of view we’re going to try to rework the idea of an evolution of the Pau GP,” said Bayrou, referencing how historic motorsport events such as the Goodwood Revival have evolved to be more sustainable.

“I don’t know if we’ll get there, I hope we’ll find original paths, in any case I don’t want us to take any financial risks,” he admitted.

Financial difficulties meant the 2010 Pau GP did not take place (a decision from a previous mayor, who also wanted the event to evolve), and the COVID-19 pandemic meant no races in 2020 and ’21. Before that the last year without the grand prix was 1956, but Bayrou proposes that its future “is not necessarily annual” and the next two runnings will likely be in 2025 and 2027.

“[This] year we organised the grand prix with a large part using green fuels, various fuels, biofuels and electricity, all of which naturally offers a way which allows us to respect at the same time the heritage side of the grand prix and the particular sensitivity of current generations.”

Eric Saubatte, Pau’s deputy mayor in charge of Sports, then adressed the council and said he respected the mayor’s choice “to no longer commit public funds” to the race. He revealed the city subsidised €200,000 of the event’s €2 million budget for 2023, and private funding would have been harder to find for 2024 since “certain partners have dedicated a large part of their budget to the Olympic Games” being held in Paris.

Saubatte reckons totally decarbonising the event (which would rule out many series, like occurred with Euroformula) will be key to attracting financial backing, and the organisers are already “regrouping our strengths” for 2025.

“The Pau GP is not dead, the institution of the grand prix is very much alive and we’re turning to the future.”

The post Pau cancels its grand prix for 2024, but plans a 2025 return 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.

Photo: Ida Wood

Enzo Peugeot made it two victories out of three this weekend in French Formula 4 by winning the 80th edition of the Pau Grand Prix.

After two days of mixed conditions, the grand prix itself started in warm conditions with some cloud cover, and with Kevin Foster on pole ahead of Evan Giltaire, Peugeot and Hiyu Yamakoshi.

Two drivers had to withdraw from the grand prix due to crashes in the second race on Saturday, while Adrien Closmenil failed to take up his 10th place on the grid and was having his engine examined in the pitlane when the start took place.

Foster immediately moved to the inside line when the lights went out to get off the bumps on the outside that he started on, and finished lap one 0.311 seconds ahead of Giltaire. Finn Wiebelhaus picked up damage and had to pit at the end of the lap for repairs.

Yamakoshi set the fastest lap on lap two as a five-car lead train broke away. Foster left the door open at the turn four hairpin on lap three and Giltaire snatched the lead, then moments later the race was put under safety car conditions as Yaroslav Veselaho came to a stop on the hill up to turn three after running in seventh place.

The skies started to darken with the threat of rain, and on lap seven Veselaho’s car had been retrieved and the race was ready to restart when rain finally hit. It caught out Frank Porte-Ruiz who went off at turn two but rejoined, and red flags were then waved moments later so the field could head to the pits and switch from slick to wet tyres.

The rain ceased, but then started falling again and harder during what ended up being a 17-minute stoppage and so the race restarted on lap eight with three laps behind the safety car.

Only going 100 metres out of the pits before retiring was Enzo Richer, who had been in 10th, as a mechanical issue brought him to a halt before even reaching turn two, then Edouard Borgna crashed out at turn nine which extended the safety car period.

Racing resumed on lap 11 on a soaked track, and spray immediately became an issue. Peugeot bravely passed Foster around the outside at the bumpy turn one, then started pressuring Giltaire who almost spun at the turn four hairpin.

He tried passing at the Buisson hairpin but thought better of it and got brilliant traction to go right around Giltaire through turn five next time by.

The safety car was summoned shortly after as Foster spun down the Foch chicane and came to a stop. He eventually got going again but then had another spin and went to the pits with a broken rear wing.

The next restart took place on lap 15 and Peugeot immediately raced away. He built a 2.750s lead in two laps, then on the penultimate lap the race was red flagged as Frank Porte-Ruiz and Joao Paolo Diaz-Balasteiro crased. It meant the results were taken back a lap, and made Peugeot the victor.

Race result (16 laps)

The post Enzo Peugeot conquers dry and wet conditions to win the Pau Grand Prix appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ida Wood

The two biggest stars of French Formula 4 qualifying in Pau faced drastically different track conditions, which ultimately meant one was never going to get pole.

As a result of the 26-car field being split into two groups, championship leader Evan Giltaire and closest rival Kevin Foster went on track for qualifying on Friday at different times.

Giltaire drove in the first group on a wet and cloud-covered track, while Foster was in a sunny second group in which the track rapidly dried and laptimes were over five seconds faster than the first group’s.

The pair topped their respective groups, and although Giltaire was only the 10th fastest qualifier, by topping his group he gets to start from the front row for race one and race three, which is the Pau Grand Prix.

Giltaire admitted to Formula Scout that the first group’s track conditions were “difficult”.

“I’m happy with the first group because I put one second on everyone on the real wet track. So I’m really happy about that,” he said. “Just unfortunately, the second group was faster in the drier conditions. But I’m still happy.

“We will see tomorrow. Normally it will be wet, normally, but I think in both conditions I will be really fast. Also it’s my first time in the wet ever in F4, first time ever in wet in Pau, so it’s nice.”

Foster told Formula Scout about the impact of the drying track during his qualifying group.

“Like lap one versus the last lap, there’s nearly six seconds difference. So when the track is just constantly evolving, you really just need to keep your head, not overpush the risk, but you can’t be caught lacking,” said the FEED Racing France scholar.

“You’ve always got to be pushing something and it must have been a combination of good track management. We had good space the whole session. Even though we had two, three red flags, I was able to always get good clean air. And I just picked my marks on the fast lap and it was enough to hold for pole.

“We’re all kind of stacked up in the pits [during the red flag stoppages] and they let us out one by one in the order that we came into the pits. So all I could really do was – the guys in the pits, they kind of spaced themselves a little bit. I tried to get past the people I knew I was quicker than and built a gap to another fast car that was ahead of me and just had a reference point to kind of balance myself with.

“And I mean, to take first my pole at Pau, it’s something special. It’s a race that we’ve been looking forward to, both me and Patrick [Lemarie, former CART racer and FEED Racing founder], and so to take pole here I think is no better way to thank him for all the help.”

The post Foster calls Pau GP pole “special” as Giltaire celebrates front row start appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ida Wood

The organisers of the Pau Grand Prix have revealed that the event’s titular race will be part of the French Formula 4 championship following Euroformula’s departure from this weekend’s event.

The grand prix winner’s trophy has been awarded to the victor of the second Euroformula race of the weekend in each of the last two runnings of the event, with double amputee Billy Monger making history and global headlines with his 2019 win.

However a push by the event for attending series to power their cars with biofuel or electricity led to Euroformula announcing last week it would withdraw from the grand prix bill as it did not believe it could meet the biofuel targets.

That then left the event without a designated race with the grand prix title, but now the schedule has been updated to reveal the third French F4 race of the weekend will now be considered the grand prix.

French F4 was created in 2011 (although did not use FIA F4 cars until 2018) and has supported the 10 runnings of the Pau GP that have taken place over the last 12 years.

Its winners on the city streets have included Alpine’s prototype sportscar driver Matthieu Vauxiviere, the late Anthoine Hubert, last year’s Super Formula championship runner-up Sacha Fenestraz and Yifei Ye. Formul’Academy Euro Series, a predecessor series to French F4, also raced on the Pau GP support bill.

The grand prix itself was a non-championship Formula 1 race from 1947 to 1957, then spent three years running for Formula 2 cars before another three years as an F1 race.

From 1964 to 1984 it was an F2 race once again, before that category was replaced by Formula 3000 and it was part of the international championship from 1985 to 1998. After that the grand prix ran for Formula 3 cars, until the World Touring Car Championship made Pau a high-profile addition to its calendar and it became the headline series for the event.

The French municipality that Pau lies in decided the race would not go ahead in 2010, but for eight of the next nine years the grand prix was one of the key dates in the world’s F3 calendar. The exception was 2013, when the Formula Renault 2.0 Pau Trophy was created to be the headline race for the event and Luca Ghiotto won.

That marked the lowest category to be considered as having top billing at the track, and now the entry-level French F4 championship will lower that further.

Evan Giltaire tops the French F4 standings after two rounds of the 2023 season. His closest rival is FEED Racing France shootout winner and Team Canada scholar Kevin Foster, while Yani Stevenheydens represents Belgium after winning the nation’s revived Volant shootout.

Germany has a ADAC Formula Junior Team that it launched following the demise of its own F4 championship to compete in the FFSA-run French series. Max Reis is its most experienced driver, and is joined by Finn Wiebelhaus and Tom Kalender.

Another notable name is Louis Schlesser, son of double World Sportscar champion and one-off F1 starter Jean-Louis Schlesser.

The Pau Grand Prix’s history as a junior single-seater race

1958-’59: Non-championship F2 race
1960: F2 championship
1964-’67: French F2
1968-’70: Non-championship F2 race
1971: French F2
1972-’84: European F2
1985-’98: International F3000
1999: Non-championship race awarding the FIA European F3 Cup
2000: French F3 (race awarding the FIA European F3 Cup)
2001-’02: Non-championship race awarding the FIA European F3 Cup
2003: F3 Euro Series (race awarding the FIA European F3 Cup)
2004-’05: F3 Euro Series
2006: British F3
2011: FIA F3 International Trophy
2012: FIA European F3 & British F3
2013: Non-championship FR2.0 race
2014-’18: FIA European F3
2019, ’22: Euroformula
2023: French F4

The post French F4 chosen to be the titular race for this weekend’s Pau Grand Prix appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Fotospeedy

Euroformula has cancelled next week’s races on the streets of Pau, which would have been the second round of the 2023 season and also incorporated the Pau Grand Prix.

“GT Sport today confirmed that the Euroformula Open will not hold the second round of its 2023 season in Pau on 13-14 May, as communicated to the Pau organisers on 27 April,” read a series statement.

“Technical reasons have led to this decision, as 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.

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

“The lead time to the event was not sufficient and GT Sport has been forced to move this round to another location and date which will be communicated shortly.”

The decision was communicated to the event organiser last Thursday, when Euroformula was on track at Algarve for pre-event testing for its season opener and the GT Sport technical team was in action.

Euroformula is one of few open-engine series in single-seater racing, with Spiess and HWA-built Mercedes-Benz engines used by competitors.

It added the Pau GP to its 2023 calendar this January after the event had failed to attract the other international single-seater series that had been targeted, and Euroformula told Formula Scout it is now planning a replacement event to keep the season at eight rounds.

Formula Scout understands that although the requirement to run on high percentage biofuel, or a sustainable fuel equivalent, was not stated in the contracts that series signed to race in Pau next weekend, it was an intention that was communicated by Joel Do Vale, the grand prix co-ordinator and vice-president of the FFSA, France’s motorsport governing body.

After the event not being run for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pau GP returned in 2022 with the FIA’s electric-powered eTouring Car World Cup and Euroformula the top billing series.

There was also a demo for the all-electric ERA single-seater series, and Do Vale spoke to Formula Scout about his plans for the 80th running of the event this year.

Read more: How the Pau Grand Prix came back for 2022, and where it’s headed next

Following Euroformula’s announcement, TCR Europe – the other high-profile series on the bill next weekend – has communicated to Formula Scout that the biofuel focus does not impact their presence in the paddock next weekend. The French Formula 4 championship, which will be supporting it, is also not set to be affected.

The post Euroformula cancels Pau Grand Prix round due to biofuel requirement appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Fotospeedy

Euroformula has adjusted its 2023 calendar to include the Pau Grand Prix, with the event’s headline race going to the series for a third time.

The classic street circuit race in Pau, a French city by the Pyrenees mountain range, was first held in 1933 and ran for top-line grand prix cars before the Second World War.

It was then a non-championship race for Formula 1 and Formula 2 cars, before becoming a staple of the European F2 championship in the 1970s. When that series was succeeded by International Formula 3000 it remained part of the calendar, then was a Formula 3 race through most of the early 2000s and 2010s (with a brief period as a World Touring Car race).

The last time it ran for F3 cars, and the first time it was part of the Euroformula calendar, was in 2019 when double amputee Billy Monger famously made history by winning in mixed conditions. Euroformula had planned to keep the grand prix on its schedule thereon, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to the event being cancelled for two years.

It returned in 2022, with Euroformula now using the F3-level Dallara 320 car, and Vlad Lomko was the winner.

To add the 2023 edition of the race onto the calendar, on May 12-14, Euroformula has had to drop its round at Mugello on September 30-October 1 to keep the season at eight rounds.

“We are delighted to have the Euroformula Open again as the top series in the Grand Prix de Pau, and even more so on a special year like this one when this event, one with the longest and richest history in motorsports, will hit the 80th edition mark,” said Jesus Pareja, CEO of Euroformula promoter GT Sport.

“This is great news for all Euroformula contenders, as they will have the possibility to measure themselves on what is, together with Monaco and Macau, the oldest and most prestigious urban track in the world. I want to thank everyone involved at Pau and in the FFSA for making this possible, and also ACI Sport for their understanding, as we step down from the Mugello event.”

Since last year’s event, the Pau GP organisers have been seeking a second single-seater series to be part of the weekend action in addition to French Formula 4, a championship which is part of the event’s long-term plans due to its use of biofuel.

Talks began with the Formula Regional European Championship, but the series lost interest, and it then returned to talks with GT Sport just before winter. Euroformula had initially decided against racing in Pau for 2023.

The post Euroformula adjusts 2023 calendar to include Pau Grand Prix appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Fotospeedy

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the longest break between editions of the Pau Grand Prix since World War 2, and its long-awaited return last weekend looks like a goodbye to its past and a blueprint for its future

Billy Monger’s history-making win in the 2019 Pau Grand Prix renewed international focus on an event that had been the pride of a small city in the south of France since 1933, but any momentum that victory was set to deliver the race, the racing career of Monger and the Euroformula series he was in at the time got undone at the start of 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For two years there was no racing on the 2.76-kilometre street circuit due to lockdown restrictions, and once those had eased it only made the grand prix’s return a possibility rather than a probability.

In addition to convincing various parties it could take over part of the city to run a four-day event in a way considered ‘COVID-19 friendly’, the organisers Basco-Bearnais racing club and Crea-Sud Communication had to – along with their promoter, the local tourism board – overcome their usual challenges of building a racetrack and event space that was not too costly to the Pyrenees-Atlantiques department the city sits in, not too disruptive to the local population and be up to standard for Formula 3-level racing in the form of Euroformula’s return. And that last one required extra work.

“It was really hard to rebuild the track after two years, because they lost some pieces, barriers, some bits,” says Joel Do Vale, the grand prix co-ordinator and vice-president of France’s motorsport governing body the FFSA, of the fate of the grand prix infrastructure that went into storage or everyday road use three years ago.

“It was very hard [to get them all] so after two years it was crazy, but we tried to revive it now.”

During the grand prix’s absence there was municipal elections and initially some fear that the pandemic-enforced cancellations would provide fuel for the grand prix’s opponents to get it permanently ended should the political make-up and leadership of the commune’s council change. But the mayor was re-elected, and Do Vale says “nothing changed for us”.

The small protests of locals whose homes sit within the paddock

“They all supported. It is the same because it’s the 79th grand prix. So it’s a whole, as we say ‘une vieille dame’ in French, an old lady. 79 years of age.”

Allowing a 79th edition to go ahead provides the clear promotional benefits of then being able to reach the 80th birthday landmark in 2023, but the upfront cost of bringing the circuit back would increase as more work had to be done than usual to bring it back to race-ready state.

Most of the track ended up being resurfaced, and it was a decision made by the organising team to cover the course in new asphalt rather than those who are responsible for the roads the other 50 weeks of the year.

“It was I who asked, I had to because it was pretty… shit,” Do Vale admits.

“It’s because there was a lot of potholes, and because it’s open, it’s a city. So after three years, you see the new bus, the big one. It’s very heavy, and passes here [with a stop on the pit straight]. So [the track surface] was not good for F3.”

The move away from internal combustion engines for many urban vehicles such as buses and lorries has had a positive impact on air quality, but their increased weight has degraded the road surfaces quicker than before. The new asphalt got put down six weeks prior to the grand prix, meaning even more days of disruption for those in the city, but the improvements do then get to be enjoyed by road-users from now on.

And those with reasons to smile about that could actually show it as the seven-day average on COVID-19 infection rates in France had been continually dropping and the grand prix had the good fortune of being able to go ahead with no restrictions whatsoever. Many did choose to wear masks and maintain social distancing in the park-based paddocks, but there were no requirements to.

Honda’s F4 drivers getting close to their WTCR counterparts

For Do Vale “it’s pretty cool to see” an event running sans restrictions again, with it having been “very, very, very hard” for the FFSA operating at conventional circuits through 2021 with strict in-paddock limitations.

“And the weather is good too! For one time it’s good, because sometimes it’s not. It’s raining normally here.”

The lack of requirement for social distancing didn’t just improve the experience for fans, but made it massively easier and more efficient to run the event. Shipping containers and trucks could be used as offices, production suites and race control, catering could be provided in enclosed spaces too, and it made it simpler for Pau’s rapid marshalling team to do their work.

“Thursday and yesterday was a little bit hard [getting back into action], but I think today is nice so we can be ready and move on,” was Do Vale’s verdict on Saturday prior to a Twin’cup crash that caused a lengthy red flag period.

“We have five to 10 digital panels for safety [supporting the flag wavers now]. I think we are really quick here, very fast first of all to remove the car. That challenge this morning was after turn eight so we had no crane so we had to put the safety car out [and wait a long while for a driver to catch the queue]. But four laps is nothing, for us, hahaha.

“And after we had two Euroformula cars in turn two and they [removed yellows] in two minutes, 40 seconds.”

From the point of Drivex’s Nico Pino and Motopark’s Frederick Lubin coming to a halt after they collided and crashed into the barriers at that corner, it actually only took 2m20s for both cars to be craned over the outside fencing. Most of the marshals are FFSA-contracted, with a group of around 70 working on the event, but with others called up from the rest of Europe.

It’s calculated 100,000 people spectated the weekend’s action, many watching for free from the Boulevard des Pyrenees that overlooks most of the circuit and the mountain vista opposite, and the enthusiasm was unsurprising given how many of the city’s cultural events have had to be missed during the pandemic. But they came to watch just 12 cars in the grand prix.

“It was really hard for the competitors because we decided we would renew this grand prix in October, November, so it’s quite late to have some cars here. So we discussed with the World Touring Car Cup and eTouring Car World Cup, okay, but then we had to have some more. So Euroformula too, and Formula 4 is not a problem [to add] because I am in charge of F4 in FFSA. But it was not so good to decide so late [to run the event].”

While the Euroformula grid gained the debuting combination of Effective Racing and Vladimir Netusil, it lost Drivex School’s Alex Peroni as his sponsors prioritised putting their cash into his sportscar commitments, and interested drivers from the FIA F3 Championship were denied the chance to enter as that series “reminded teams that none of their drivers can make cameos in other series if not entered for the full season”.

The supporting French F4 championship however had a capacity entry list of 24 cars, and its new-for-2022 use of Repsol biofuel turns out to have been entwined with its grand prix presence.

“I was in discussion with Repsol because Repsol is one of the partners here [of the grand prix], and I was discussing with the number two of Repsol in Paris, and I said:

‘Oh, what is your new fuel?’
And he said what [Repsol was working on].
‘Your fuel [choice], would it go ethanol and hydrogen and is it green’
‘Yeah, we’re maybe interested for the F4, why not?’
‘How many litres do you need’
‘38,000 litres’
‘Deal done’

“We took 38,000 litres and here we are. We tried 70% and 100% [biofuel], and 100% was running so we tried 100% new biofuel.”

Three races ran for F4 and they were full of entertainment, although drivers got a little impatient late on and caused typical street circuit multi-car standstills at hairpins. The recently introduced second-generation F4 cars are larger than their predecessors, and even larger than them are Formula Regional cars which could be seen on the streets of Pau next year.

“We have the FRegional European Championship asking me maybe to come next year,” Do Vale reveals. “So it’s nice, just because there’s 32 cars there I think. A big grid. It would be nice. And I’m in discussion now because I think with all spectators and the city is very happy, so I think we will have a view into 2023, [about] a new grand prix. So [interested series] are calling me, and we are interested for.”

Formula Scout understands that if FREC was to race in Pau next year, then it would drop its support slot at Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix and FIA F3 would plan to take its place there for its sole street circuit round.

“I try to get the best [cars] that we can have, because we are only an FIA Grade 3 circuit. Sometimes it’s difficult. But why not GT4 France, maybe if they go to biofuel. The problem is here because now they chose to put biofuel here [in promotion of the event], so I think Euroformula is the last one to race with not any kind of [non-alternative] fuel. So everything you can see, even the Twin’cup. The Renault Twingos, it’s [adapted] fuel. It’s not really biofuel, but [it’s in that direction too].”

Two weeks after the Pau GP the ‘Classic’ equivalent will run for historic cars, and there’s occasionally been rumours a Formula E e-prix could one day run in the city as well. FFSA president Nicolas Deschaux lauded the Pau GP for being “100% orientated towards energy transition”, and 24km north-west is the Pau-Arnos circuit which hosted WTCR and ETCR last year in absence of the street circuit’s usability and tries to promote itself as a hub for electric motorsport. Could FE run in Pau?

“No I don’t think so, because FE is really expensive. We know that,” Do Vale says initially. “It was in Paris, so it was not in Pau and Paris is not the same. Na, I think… why not, why not… just the financial part [is the deterrent].”

Photo: Ida Wood

The alternative route to a Pau GP return

After getting the joy of commentating on Billy Monger’s 2019 win, unfortunately I did not get to do the same on Vlad Lomko’s 2022 triumph but I did get to go on a big adventure.

In addition to the biofuel-running series and ETCR, there were other parts of the Pau GP weekend that highlighted a more climate-friendly future for cars. First of all there was the demo of the all-electric junior single-seater that will be used by the soon to debut ERA championship, which you can read more about on Formula Scout soon, then there was also the hyrdogen Mission H24 prototype sportscar and a Ligier that did laps using biofuel power.

With a desire to reduce my own carbon footprint, and also make sure I didn’t run over my costing for the week at £50, I walked the 39km route from Tarbes–Lourdes–Pyrenees Airport to Pau and back. That was just one element of what ended up being a big adventure with appearances on BBC Radio 2, getting very sunburnt, potential accidental trespassing on a French ministry of defence site and learning about the merits of rabbit casserole for breakfast.

You can find most of that craziness on Twitter, and also hear all about it on our latest podcast which also analyses the Pau GP itself and the star of the weekend who somehow failed to win. Listen to it below, or find it on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Castbox, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The post How the Pau Grand Prix came back for 2022, and where it’s headed next appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ida Wood

CryptoTower Racing Team’s Vlad Lomko won the 2022 Pau Grand Prix in a race he led almost from start to finish.

Lomko was beaten to pole by Oliver Goethe, who drives for the Motopark operation that also runs CryptoTower’s cars, and jumped straight past him from the front row.

The poleman then lost futher places to team-mates Christian Mansell, who occupied the inside line, Josh Mason and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Filip Ugran as there was dust on the outside of turn two from an incident in a previous race and he wheelspan his way through the corner.

Lomko, a rookie driver who has come up from Formula 4 and is racing under a French license due to sanctions on his home country Russia, looked comfortable in the lead and had a gap of a second over Mansell after the first two laps.

That lead grew to 3.449 seconds by the halfway point of the 26-lap race, with Mason a further three seconds behind in third but out of the race just two laps later as he crashed at the Foch chicane. The marshals rapidly removed his car within a minute.

In the race’s second half Lomko managed his pace, and he took the win by 2.128s over Mansell.

Goethe recovered one spot with Mason’s crash and worked all race to try to pass Ugran, but his best overtaking opportunity was usually at turn two and there was never enough traction on the outside line. Mid-race he also got compromised when he and Ugran caught the lapped Vladimir Netusil (Effective Racing) through the Croiusement chicane as Ugran was let through but there was not enough room for Goethe to get by at the same time and it meant he lost a bit of time.

He took fastest lap in his pursuit of Ugran, and by lap 19 he was back on the VAR driver’s gearbox. He stuck his nose in at the Lycee hairpin but there wasn’t enough room, and on the next lap Ugran got wide onto the kerbs at turn nine. As he recovered the car Goethe did the dummy and dived down his inside into the Buisson hairpin to pull off an incredible overtake and finally take third place.

Aside from Mason, the only other retiree was BVM Racing’s Francesco Simonazzi who crashed out at turn two on lap four. He had the same issue as Goethe, with his rear wheels spinning on the dust and sending him into the barriers.

Race result

The post Vlad Lomko wins the 2022 Pau Grand Prix appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ida Wood

Motopark’s Oliver Goethe has continued his unbeaten run in Euroformula qualifying this year by taking pole position for the 79th edition of the Pau Grand Prix.

The Sunday morning qualifying session belonged to the fleet of cars run by Motopark, with Christian Mansell laying down the first benchmark laptime for the outfit’s Japanese offshoot CryptoTower Racing Team.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Sebastian Ogaard briefly went fastest with a 1m11.451s lap, but Mansell then brought the pace down into the 1m10s. He improved further, and his team-mate Vlad Lomko rose to second place and just a tenth of a second behind.

It was Goethe who would end the first runs on top though, as he went out a little later and found clear track to go 0.022s faster than Mansell on the first lap at the peak of his tyres and then an incredible 1m09.994s on his second despite a lock-up at the Buisson hairpin as he pushed the limits.

The pace lowered further on the second runs, with Lomko’s first attempt at usurping Goethe getting undone by coming across Effective Racing’s debutant Vladimir Netusil in the middle of the lap.

Goethe’s team-mate Frederick Lubin had no such trouble and he went second fastest, but then overcooked his entry into turn two, locking his rear tyres and slamming into the barriers. His car was craned away with minimal disruption to proceedings, with yellow flags only out for a minute and still providing three minutes for pole to be disputed in.

Lomko was one of the first to improve after, setting a 1m09.671s that would have put him on provisional pole had Goethe not gone 0.010s faster at the same time.

Goethe’s next effort was even better, improving to 1m09.345s while Lomko’s response was 0.123s off that. They both had time for one more lap to conclude their pole battle, and Lomko bettered Goethe’s benchmark.

His 1m09.223s wasn’t good enough for pole though, as Goethe took top spot by 0.049s with the fastest lap of the weekend yet.

Mansell was 0.535s slower in third, ahead of CryptoTower’s Josh Mason – who picked up damage early on and had to undergo repairs between runs – and Drivex School’s late improver Nico Pino who was the last driver within a second of Goethe’s pace.

Filip Ugran was the top VAR driver in sixth, with Lubin seventh fastest but with a three-place grid penalty to serve for a collision he had with Pino in race two.

Netusil spent more time in the pits than his opposition and he qualified 7.360s off pole.

Qualifying results

The post Oliver Goethe claims Pau Grand Prix pole appeared first on Formula Scout.