Photo: Fast Lane Promotion

After a groundbreaking season in 2012, which saw established names Daniil Kvyat and Norman Nato battle it out for the title, 2013 saw the Alps series return to being a high-class testing ground for Eurocup Formula Renault rookies and future prospects. In a surprising development, it also saw complete dominance from the Italian Prema Powerteam squad, whose drivers won all 14 races and locked out the top three in the standings.

While it’s entirely unclear as to which team or driver will star in Alps in 2014, the grid that has been put together for the series opener at Imola is, as expected, stellar, and is likely to pave the way for a hotly-contested season.

Below is our preview of Formula Renault 2.0 Alps action in 2014.

Prema Powerteam

Photo: Fast Lane Promotion

The Italian team’s 2013 campaign was a thundering display of dominance, as it led Ferrari Driver Academy starlet Antonio Fuoco to a major title in his first year in cars, while simultaneously hugely raising the profile of Abarth graduates Luca Ghiotto and Bruno Bonifacio. The aforementioned trio well and truly stole the show, accounting for 100% of the race victories in last year’s Alps season.

As strong as Prema is, it appears that a repeat of 2013 is highly unlikely. The team will only field two full-time entries now and, while both drivers should be capable of producing good results, neither of them is expected to challenge for victories right away.

Their new signing – Singaporean racer Andrew Tang – should be their best bet for serious achievements, having taken a surprise title in the very competitive 2014 Toyota Racing Series field in the off-season after a learning year in Formula Renault in 2013. His participation in Alps this year seemed to be uncertain due to possible military service commitments in his native Singapore, but having made a last-minute switch from Jenzer to Prema, that appears to be no longer a threat.

Prema’s second driver is Alex Bosak from Poland, a relative veteran of the Alps series. He contested the full schedule in the championship in 2012 and 2013, failing to score points in either campaign. However, he’s looked generally on-pace during his stint in the FDA-run Florida Winter Series and, with Prema, he has the best machinery he could ask for to start delivering results.

Prema’s Eurocup lineup – Bruno Bonifacio, Hans Villemi and Dennis Olsen – are all entered as Wildcards and will contest the season opener, where any one of them could realistically pick up a victory.

Tech 1 Racing

Photo: Fast Lane Promotion

The French team continue to be a major asset to the Alps championship and, this year, are set to provide a strong four-car lineup for the full series schedule.

Canadian racer Luke Chudleigh made his single-seater debut in Alps last year and placed 26th in the standings. After a learning campaign, he is retained by Tech 1 for a proper assault – the team hopes to see him regularly among the frontrunners but, given the strength of the grid, consistent solid points finishes could appear to be a more viable goal.

Formula Masters China graduate Akash Nandy joins Tech 1 for his first year in Formula Renault racing. He was a title contender in his respective series last year but will probably need some time to adapt to European racing.

The rest of the full-time lineup is completed by Formula BMW graduate Hugo de Sadeleer and Patric Armand, who makes the switch from NEC. It’s likely to be a learning year for both of them.

Tech 1 will also field Wildcard entrants at Imola in the form of their Eurocup lineup of Egor Orudzhev, Anthoine Hubert and Vasily Romanov.

ARTA Engineering

Photo: Fast Lane Promotion

Having originally been set to field three cars on a full-time basis in the 2014 season, ARTA will now make do with two, as the previously announced deal with Indian racer Parth Ghorpade has not materialised for now.

Heading ARTA’s lineup is French driver Simon Gachet, who took 14th in last year’s Alps standings with the team. With his experience from the rookie campaign, the 20-year-old could very well be a potential victory contender as he’s shown lots of promise throughout his career, having been the V de V single-seater Challenge champion in 2011 and third in French F4 in 2012.

The second driver in their lineup is James Allen, an Australian karter who made a successful transition to cars, taking fifth in the Formula BMW Talent Cup Grand Final in 2013. For three of the seven rounds, they will be joined by ARTA’s Eurocup driver Darius Oskoui, a race winner in French F4.

Koiranen GP

Photo: Fast Lane Promotion

In 2012, Koiranen took the Alps drivers’ title with sophomore Formula Renault racer Daniil Kvyat. It seems they’re hoping to pull a similar trick in 2014, as the Finnish squad announced they will be fielding Nyck de Vries in both the Eurocup and the Alps series this year.

The Dutchman is expected to do the full campaign and, as such, is the clear favourite for the title. Backed by McLaren, he made headlines in 2012 with an excellent debut season in the Eurocup, but went on to largely struggle in 2013, salvaging his campaign with five podiums in the last three rounds of the season. He was very strong in Eurocup pre-season testing and, as such, might very well pick up titles in both championships.

Having signed an experienced driver, Koiranen also wound up securing one of the most promising rookies of the 2014 crop. Enter George Russell, a Brit with a stellar karting background who is widely regarded to be one of single-seater racing’s most promising newcomers in 2014. Having originally signed with Prema, Russell made a surprise switch to Koiranen and, given his pre-season testing form, will be a serious threat at the front.

Koiranen GP will also continue their partnership with SMP, who have placed Vitaly Larionov and Mikhail Tarasov into the series for 2014. Larionov finished runner-up in Formula Abarth National Trophy in 2013, while Tarasov graduates from karting.

Finally, French F4 racer Kang Ling completes Koiranen’s full-time entries, with the team also running Asian Formula Renault’s Hong Li Ye on a part-time schedule.

Jenzer Motorsport

Photo: Fast Lane Promotion

While Kevin Jorg ensured Jenzer’s presence at the front in Alps 2013, the team didn’t have a very good campaign in the Eurocup and, as such, will only focus on the former series for this year.

The Swiss team will retain Denis Korneev, who had a solid rookie year in Alps last year, picking up ten points. Korneev also did well in the Toyota Racing Series during the off-season, finishing as best ETEC racer in eighth.

Making their debut with Jenzer are two German rookies – Marek Bockmann and Dennis Anoschin. For Bockmann, this will be his first year in cars, while Anoschin has a solid frontrunning French F4 campaign under his belt.

Finally, Chinese racer Yuan Bo will be taking the fourth seat vacated by Tang for Imola. Bo is signed up for the full-season of Formula Masters China, which has one clash with the Alps schedule.

China BRT by JCS

Photo: Lorenzo Charlez / ASM / Renault Sport Media

A newly-rebranded Interwetten team enters the 2014 Alps season with loads of ambition, evident from an impressively competitive lineup.

Swiss racer Matheo Tuscher, who was the champion in Formula Pilota China in 2011 and starred in the now-defunct FIA F2 in 2012, taking the runner-up spot, makes a long-overdue return to single-seaters, having been absent for most of 2013.

He is joined by British F3 National Class champion Sun Zheng, while, for round one, the team is also fielding the perennially-underfunded two-time Toyota Racing Series champion Nick Cassidy.

While they’ve managed to test with predominantly strong drivers so far, the results have been hard to come by, with Interwetten apparently still looking to recover from their 2013 slump.

Fortec Motorsports

Photo: Gregory Lenormand / DPPI / Renault Sport Media

Having been the strongest team in Formula Renault NEC over the recent year, Fortec now enter the Alps championship with an appropriately stellar lineup.

Monegasque Charles Leclerc is the big name here, making his debut in cars at the age of 16 after an immensely successful career in karting. It appears he won’t take long to adapt to single-seaters, as he’s already ran right at the front during his appearances in Eurocup testing.

Croatian Martin Kodric is another high profile driver from the karting scene who’ll make his full-time debut in cars in the Alps series. He came third in the Protyre FR Autumn Cup last year and was quick, if very inconsistent, in his Toyota Racing Series campaign this winter.

Rounding out the trio of karting graduates is Thiago Vivacqua, also with some serious successes prior to his step up to single-seaters. He raced part-time in the NEC series last year with ART, which could come in handy during his rookie year in Alps.

Seb Morris, the new addition to the Caterham F1 Academy, is set to do Alps rounds alongside a full NEC campaign. He was third in Formula Renault BARC in 2012 and finished runner-up in BRDC F4 last year.

Fortec’s Eurocup drivers – Matt Parry, Jack Aitken and Martin Rump – are all rookies as well, so they’ve expectedly been entered as Wildcards for the season and the Imola round in particular.

Other entrants

Photo: Fast Lane Promotion

Italian squad JD Motorsport has only confirmed one entrant so far in Russian driver Matevos Isaakyan. The SMP-backed rookie was a frontrunner in last year’s French F4, impressed in the Toyota Racing Series and then made headlines with his impeccable form in Eurocup pre-season testing at Aragon with AVF.

Cram Motorsport return to the series after part-time participation in 2011 and 2012. Having won the Abarth title last year, they bring over champion Alessio Rovera, who picked up an impressive rookie title in his first year of car racing. ADAC Formel Masters graduate Stefan Riener was expected to fill the second seat, but appears to be absent from Imola.

BVM Racing and TS Corse will both field two-car entries. The former will run sophomore racers Dario Capitanio and Semen Evstigneev, while the latter has signed Pietro Peccenini and Matteo Gonfiantini.

Finally, GSK Grand Prix will do the season with German F3 podium finisher Matteo Cairoli and Ukrainian karting graduate Danyil Pronenko.

The post 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps season preview appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photp: Fast Lane Promotion

Jenzer Motorsport have named four drivers for their Formula Renault 2.0 Alps entry for 2014, led by Toyota Racing Series champion Andrew Tang.

Tang finished 20th in the Alps standings last year driving for the Swiss squad, before going onto win the New Zealand-based TRS in February.

Although the Singaporean has been named as the lead driver for Jenzer’s assault for 2014, his future motorsport participation has been threatened by national military service and the 19-year-old has been working on getting a deferment.

Russian driver Denis Korneev also continues in the team for a second season, having ended up 25th in 2013. He joined Tang in the TRS over the winter, finishing eighth in the points.

Dennis Anoschin makes the step up to Formula Renault 2.0 with Jenzer after competing in the French F4 Championship last year. The German-born driver finished seventh in the standings after three second-place finishes.

The Jenzer quartet is completed by Marek Bockmann, who finished fourth in the V de V Single-Seater Challenge last year driving a 2010-specification Formula Renault 2.0 car.

Jenzer will focus their Formula Renault efforts on the Alps series this year having withdrawn their Eurocup entry.

2014 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps lineup so far

The post Jenzer name four-driver Formula Renault Alps squad appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ferran Mallol / ASM

37 Formula Renault 2.0 hopefuls will take to the track during the second official pre-season Eurocup test that will take place on March 6-7 at Paul Ricard.

Again, teams’ champions Tech 1 Racing will run the biggest number of entrants in the test with five confirmed drivers. Anthoine Hubert, Egor Orudzhev and Vasily Romanov will represent the French team’s Eurocup contingent, while Akash Nandy and Patric Armand will be preparing for their participation in the 2014 FR2.0 Alps season.

Manor MP’s Eurocup veterans Andrea Pizzitola and Steijn Schothorst will participate in the test alongside Matthew Graham, who will test in the third Eurocup car, and Julio Moreno, who appears set to join the Dutch team in FR2.0 NEC.

ART Junior Team will field Levin Amweg, who’s signed on for the 2014 season, and Aurelien Panis in their Eurocup cars. Dutch driver Jeroen Slaghekke will also test with the team, having raced Road to Indy’s USF2000 in 2013 with a sophomore campaign on the cards for this year.

Josef Kaufmann Racing will run two cars for Kevin Jorg, who topped the first day of pre-season testing at Aragon, and Gustav Malja. Fortec will also limit their participation to two entries, with two confirmed drivers Martin Rump and Matthew Parry.

Koiranen will continue to field Ignazio D’Agosto, Nyck de Vries and rookie Nicholas Surguladze, while Prema will run their Eurocup lineup of Bruno Bonifacio, Hans Villemi and Dennis Olsen.

Aragon pacesetter Alex Albon will again test with KTR as the team also retains Gregor Ramsay and Jules Gounon. ARTA will field just one car for signed-on rookie Darius Oskoui.

Having missed the Aragon test, Swiss team Jenzer will return with four cars. Toyota Racing Series champion Andrew Tang will headline Jenzer’s lineup, which also includes their Alps graduate Denis Korneev, German karter Marek Bockmann and French F4 podium finisher Dennis Anoschin. RC Formula, also absent at Aragon, will test with QI Racing-backed Yannick Mettler and French F4 graduate Tom Le Coq.

2012 Formula 2 runner-up Matheo Tuscher will once again test with China BRT by JCS, this time alongside British F3 National Class champion Sun Zheng. Victor Franzoni, who is signed on for USF2000, will test on day one in their third car, with the driver for day two yet to be announced.

Spanish squad AVF will limit their participation to one car, driven by female ADAC Formel Masters race winner Beitske Visser.

Entry list

The post WSR confirm entrants for Eurocup pre-season test at Paul Ricard appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FFSA/DPPI

For several years now, French F4 has been widely regarded as one of the best entry-level championships around, with sizable grids and an impressive track record of producing talent. Since 2010, the championship has launched the single-seater careers of household names like Stoffel Vandoorne, Norman Nato and Pierre Gasly, while the most recent crop of 2012 produced talented Road to Indy star Alexandre Baron and Eurocup Formula Renault’s best rookie Egor Orudzhev.

The 2013 season produced several names that will hopefully follow in the footsteps of the aforementioned. While we saw another dominant title campaign, this time courtesy of Anthoine Hubert, several other drivers also managed to make an impression. Below, we outline the key names and events in the most recent French F4 year.

The title fight

Photo: FFSA/DPPI

Pre-season testing revealed a clear early favorite in Anthoine Hubert, whose predicted title chances were bolstered by an excellent karting CV.

Indeed, while there were other drivers tipped to take the fight to Hubert, the illusion was gone by round one. The young Frenchman was the only consistent factor in the Le Mans opener, winning both feature races with relative ease. The pattern stayed true at Pau and, as Hubert added two wins to his tally, he now had 122 points in the standings ? none of his rivals have even surpassed the 50-point mark.

At Spa, the intrigue in the championship fight was pretty much gone. Given a track that lends itself well to overtaking, Hubert picked up the reverse-grid victory in addition to his usual feature race double, producing one of the most dominant weekend performances of the year in single-seaters. At the halfway point of the season at Val de Vienne, he took another two wins from pole.

The paradigm, however, would change at Magny-Cours. As Hubert had a difficult qualifying, he was faced with an uphill fight in all three races, giving the other frontrunners a chance to shine, which was utilized to the fullest by one of his countrymen.

Photo: FFSA/DPPI

Enter Jules Gounon, already a race winner in French F4 up to that point, but, in spite of that, mostly seen as just another regular challenger. The Frenchman had an inconsistent season with ups and downs and, while his clear ability shone through before, he struggled to produce the results and was just eighth coming into Magny-Cours.

A great start in the first race of the weekend allowed him to cruise to his first feature race win, while in race two, he spectacularly fought his way up the ranks to take the lead in the closing minutes of the race and secure a second win. In race three, he rounded out a perfect weekend, becoming the second driver to have a triple victory in the standings.

With two rounds to go, Gounon, now second in the championship, stood as the only man between Hubert and an early confirmation of the title. Appropriately, the duo locked out the front row for the opening race at Ledenon and, while Hubert went on to take the win, his title celebrations were cut short when he was penalized for an early defensive chop on his rival. Gounon, thus, inherited the win and the title fight was kept alive.

Still, Hubert didn’t have to wait long to become champion for good. In race two, Gounon was penalized for an overeager overtaking move and, thus, finishing fourth was enough for his rival to wrap up the title.

Gounon then won the final feature race of the weekend, but it was Hubert who closed out the season with the upper hand, picking up two dominant victories in the finale.

The other challengers

Photo: FFSA/DPPI

The French duo of Hubert and Gounon might have held a monopoly on feature race victories, but there were plenty of other drivers displaying their frontrunning abilities on a rather regular basis.

Formula BMW Talent Cup runner-up Tristan Viidas was one of the pre-season favorites, but endured a very slow start to the season. After the opening rounds, however, things got way better for the Estonian, who turned out to be a rather reliable presence in the top five and notched five podium finishes, albeit drawing a blank in terms of victories. He deservedly finished the season in third, but could not have realistically challenged Hubert or Gounon even if he managed to adapt in a quicker way.

Frenchman Tom Le Coq ultimately came up just three points short of Viidas and, all in all, put in a similar campaign. He took a bit to get going, but soon started racking up podiums. Just like Viidas, he had a solitary feature race pole that he failed to convert into a win, but the Frenchman did manage to stand on the top step once, holding off numerous drivers to cross the line in first in the reverse-grid event at Ledenon.

Out of French F4’s Russian SMP-backed contingent, Matevos Isaakyan managed the best results, taking fifth in the standings. He was noticeably quick with numerous podiums to his name and generally seemed capable on consistent pace, always making the points in the late stages of the season. Still, there was some noticeable raggedness in his performances, punctuated by an unfortunate tangle in the fight for race victory at Le Castellet.

There wasn’t much between Felix Hirsiger and Dennis Anoschin, with both drivers finishing one place away from race wins on three occasions. Both the Swiss and the German were everpresent in the points and both managed impressive streaks of top-ten finishes – nine in a row for Anoschin and five early and six later on for Hirsiger.

RACB’s Neal Van Vaerenbergh was hotly-tipped in early predictions, following in the footsteps of Vandoorne and 2009 champion Benjamin Bailly. Ultimately, he came up eighth, reliably earning points, but lacking in outstanding finishes. However, despite not managing to secure a win, he did have three podiums to show for his campaign.

Finn Simo Muhonen was the second race-winner of the season, taking first in the reverse-grid race of the Le Mans opener. He continued to be a reliable presence in the points and managed two more top-three results, but wound up just ninth overall.

The rest of the field

Photo: FFSA/DPPI

Apart from Isaakyan, SMP also placed two other Russian drivers in the series. Kirill Karpov impressively topped the first qualifying of the year and was on the podium for the first race, but couldn’t repeat those results throughout the rest of the year. Meanwhile, Ivan Kostyukov secured three podiums and displayed promising pace, but often lacked the consistency to back up his ability.

Switzerland also had three drivers in the championship. While Hirsiger finished highest, Severin Amweg was the only Swiss race winner, picking up a reverse-grid success at Val de Vienne. He only had four other points finishes this year, albeit one of them was another reverse-grid top-three result at Spa. His compatriot Justin Meichtry was unfortunately ruled out of the season after he picked up an injury in a crash in the season opener.

Remy Deguffroy was the fourth-best French driver, managing some solid early-season performances before a podium and a victory in two separate reverse-grid outings in the final rounds. Florian Pottier and sophomore racer Marco de Peretti also picked up a podium each, as did Valentin Naud, who left an impression despite contesting only three rounds.

Amaury Rossero seemed to head for a maiden podium when he was tapped out by Isaakyan at Ledenon and, as such, his best result wound up being a fifth place. Swedish racer Paul Hokfelt made two rather notable appearances mid-season, with a best finish of sixth.

Finally, Amaury Richard, Kang Ling, Lucile Cypriano and Sidhant Panda made up the backmarkers, with 12, 11, four and zero points respectively.

2014 plans

Photo: Renault Sport/DPPI

Many drivers from the 2013 French F4 grid are now looking at the obvious move to Formula Renault 2.0 racing. Series champion Hubert tested in Eurocup’s rookie test with Tech 1, but is now looking very likely to take a seat at Dutch squad Manor MP.

Gounon is also likely to graduate to the Eurocup, having made testing appearances with Prema and, most recently, KTR. Le Coq tested with ART Junior Team during the rookie test and would probably benefit from a year in the NEC championship, while Viidas ran with Josef Kaufmann Racing but hasn’t committed to continuing in single-seaters yet, with a move to Radical racing appearing a distinct possibility.

Isaakyan did several days of testing with AV Formula, who are expected to run a full-time campaign in the Alps championship next year. Anoschin had a rookie Eurocup test with ARTA, while Ling popped up with Manor and, later on, Koiranen.

The post 2013 French F4 season review appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: DPPI

Following his career first podium in French F4 at Ledenon, Remy Deguffroy has crossed out another milestone in the series finale at Paul Ricard, taking the victory in the reverse-grid second race.

The Frenchman was the beneficiary of an incident between reverse-grid polesitter Amaury Rossero and his main chaser Matevos Isaakyan. As Rossero pulled away from the rest of the field during the hectic first few laps, Isaakyan soon emerged in second and began closing in on the young French driver. On lap 11, Isaakyan attempted a risky overtaking move and a collision ensued, ruining Rossero’s suspension and giving the Russian a drive through.

Deguffroy, who was running in third, therefore inherited the lead and managed to cruise to victory over the subsequent laps.

Championship frontrunner Jules Gounon wound up second, stealing the position from Tom Le Coq on the final lap, the latter completing an all-French podium.

Dennis Anoschin and Neal van Vaerenbergh completed the top five. Simo Muhonen took sixth, ahead of Amaury Richard and Tristan Viidas, while Kirill Karpov and Isaakyan closed out the top ten.

Series champion Anthoine Hubert and Ivan Kostyukov were two early high-profile retirements, both damaging their cars in an early crash.

Race results

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Photo: DPPI

French F4 champion Anthoine Hubert took his tenth victory of the season in race one of the final round at Paul Ricard.

The young Frenchman got off to a good start and confidently maintained the lead on the opening lap. Meanwhile, fellow front row starter Ivan Kostyukov didn’t enjoy the best getaway off the line, and wound up letting a number of cars through, with Dennis Anoschin taking over in second.

The race stabilized from that point on, as Hubert held on to first, despite an ever-present Anoschin behind. With not many developments throughout the race for the top two, they ran in formation until the checkered flag.

Frontrunner Jules Gounon enjoyed a terrific opening lap, slotting into fourth, and then took the final podium position with an overtake on Tom Le Coq on lap three. Le Coq eventually wound up sixth, also falling behind Felix Hirsiger and Matevos Isaakyan.

Kostyukov finished seventh, while Frenchmen Marco de Peretti, Remy Deguffroy and Amaury Rossero completed the top ten.

Race results

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Photo: DPPI

French F4 series champion Anthoine Hubert has kicked off the final round of the 2013 season at Circuit Paul Ricard with a strong display as he took double pole for the feature races.

The young Frenchman, who recently tested with Tech 1 Racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, spent most of the qualifying in the lead, briefly surrendering it to Tom Le Coq, whose time was then made void due to track limit infringements.

Despite a seemingly dominant display from Hubert, a number of drivers got close to first. Indeed, second-placed Felix Hirsiger set a time that was just 0.018s off pole, while Ivan Kostyukov trailed the Swiss driver by the very same margin in third place.

The closeness of the laptimes echoed all throughout the field. Dennis Anoschin and Neal van Vaerenbergh wound up separated by one thousandth of a second in fourth and fifth respectively, both finishing within a tenth off the pole time. Meanwhile, Le Coq and Matevos Isaakyan managed to record the exact same time and will start from sixth and seventh.

Remy Deguffroy, Jules Gounon and Tristan Viidas, who all made podium appearances in the previous round at Ledenon, made up the top ten.

On second-best times, which determine the grid for race one, Hubert will lead Kostyukov on the front row, ahead of Hirsiger and Anoschin.

Race grids

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Photo: Eric Vargiolu / DPPI

Renault Sport have released the entry list for tomorrow’s rookie test in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 category.

The teams’ champions Tech 1 will run French F4 champion Anthoine Hubert and Russian karting graduate Vasily Romanov. Martin Rump will join Formula BMW Talent Cup winner Robin Hansson at Fortec, with Matthew Graham of BRDC F4 completing the British squad’s strong lineup.

The ART Junior Team will run French F4 race-winner Tom Le Coq alongside 2.0 regulars Levin Amweg and Jakub Dalewski. Josef Kaufmann racing will field two cars, one for the team’s Eurocup driver Gustav Malja and one for French F4 frontrunner Tristan Viidas. Lukas Sundahl, who finished third in this year’s Formula Renault 1.6 Sweden, will join Swiss karting graduate Alain Valente and another single-seater rookie Jocelyn Vuadens in Jenzer’s lineup.

Experienced racer Albert Costa will test for Koiranen, with FR1.6 Sweden champion Erik Johansson also featuring in the team’s lineup. Highly-rated karting graduate Max Verstappen will run with KTR, alongside regular Eurocup guest competitor Gregor Ramsay. Meanwhile, Dutch team Manor will field Eurocup veteran Steijn Schothorst alongside French F4’s Kang Ling and Protyre Formula Renault champion Chris Middlehurst.

Impressive French F4 rookie Dennis Anoschin will join ARTA, who have also entered their Alps driver Simon Gachet. Also from French F4, having won five races in the championship, Jules Gounon will test for Prema, alongside NEC podium finisher Nicolas Jamin and F3 Open driver Damiano Fioravanti.

Karting graduates George Russell and Alex Palou join French F4 frontrunner Matevos Isaakyan in the AV Formula lineup. Interwetten.com will field ADAC Formel Masters champion Alessio Picariello, Austrian karting graduate Max Weinzierl and the team’s current driver Alejandro Abogado. Finally, RC Formula will give the testing opportunities to their Eurocup rookie John Filippi, Italian karting driver Leonardo Pulcini and? Joffrey De Narda, who scored a maiden podium in this year’s Formula Renault 2.0 Alps.

Entry list

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Having been denied his title celebrations earlier today, Anthoine Hubert finally cemented himself as the 2013 French F4 champion in race two at Ledenon, which was won by Tom Le Coq.

Reverse-grid poleman Remy Deguffroy maintained the lead over the opening lap, but soon ended up losing first to fellow front row starter Le Coq. Deguffroy would then spend the remainder of the race on Le Coq’s heels, but, despite the overtake seeming imminent at some point, it never materialized.

As such, Le Coq held on to the win, with Deguffroy taking his first podium in the series in second.

Neal van Vaerenbergh overtook Paul Hokfelt in the beginning of the race and held on to the position at the flag. Championship hopeful Jules Gounon attempted to follow through, but made contact with Hokfelt, sending the latter to the back of the race and receiving a subsequent drive-through penalty.

With Gounon looking at no points, Hubert was guaranteed to become the series champion by the end of the race. However, the Frenchman still produced a fighting drive, which culminated in him overtaking Tristan Viidas for fourth on the final lap.

Dennis Anoschin overhauled Felix Hirsiger for sixth, with Matevos Isaakyan finishing closely behind the duo in eighth. Kirill Karpov picked up ninth, while Marco de Peretti fought his way up to tenth after a lap one incident.

Race results

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Photo: FFSA/DPPI

Anthoine Hubert thought he had secured the French F4 Championship with victory in the first race of the weekend at Ledenon, only to be penalised for his defence of the lead from chief rival Jules Gounon.

Starting from pole position, Hubert came under attack from Gounon at the first corner but kept hold of the lead for the duration, winning by 0.748 seconds. The stewards took issue however with the way in which he defended at the start, giving him a 30 second time penalty that dropped him to 11th in the results.

Felix Hirsiger made a good start to move up to third. He challenged Gounon initially before falling into the clutches of Tristan Viidas, but the Anglo-Swiss driver managed to hold on to his place, which became second with Hubert’s penalty.

Matevos Isaakyan finished in fourth ahead of Marco de Peretti and?Dennis Anoschin. Neal van Vaerenbergh started fourth but gradually slipped back over the course of the race, finishing seventh. Paul Hokfelt took eighth on his series debut by passing Tom Le Coq, while Remy Deguffroy?took tenth and the reverse grid pole for race two.

Race results

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