Photo: Formula Renault 1.6 NEC Junior

Anton De Pasquale, 18, will start both races of the opening round of the 2014 Formula Renault 1.6 NEC series from pole position.

The early stages of the first qualifying of the season saw the reigning Australian Formula Ford champion De Pasquale and Larry ten Voorde fight it out for the first spot, one-upping each other several times, before the Australian finally set the benchmark time at the halfway point of the session.

Ten Voorde, who is embarking on his sophomore season in the championship, settled for a front row start, while Ferdinand Habsburg in third was the session’s best car rookie.

16-year-old Florian Janits took fourth, closely followed by Dutchman Janneau Esmeijer and rookie duo of Estonian Ralf Aron and Belgian Max Defourny.?The top ten was completed by Oliver Soderstrom, Paul Sieljes?and Boris Kolff.

The grid for the second race was determined by the second-best lap times of the session. De Pasquale managed to end up way clear of the rest in this classification as well, with Ten Voorde again starting alongside him.

The second, third and fourth row on the grid will be made up of the same drivers, albeit all of them will see the drivers line up on opposite sides from race one. Finally, Kolff and French F4 graduate Neal van Vaerenbergh will round out the top ten.

The series will take a break tomorrow ahead of the opening two races, which will take place on Monday.

Session results

The post Australian De Pasquale secures two poles on European debut 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: MRF Challenge

The F1-supporting opening round of the MRF Challenge took place this weekend, as household names in European junior single-seaters found themselves battling against some surprisingly on-form underdogs…

MRF Challenge

Pic and Svendsen-Cook take wins, but it’s Ellinas who leads the standings

The yearly MRF Challenge series kicked off at Buddh International Circuit this weekend, with the opening round seeing its headline-grabbing favorites expectedly in contention for wins and podiums.

The feature race was all about the fight between the much-esteemed duo of Arthur Pic and Tio Ellinas. The Frenchman and the Cypriot shared the front row after a close qualifying affair and proceeded to battle it out for the win in the race. Ellinas maintained near-constant pressure on the poleman, even briefly taking the lead on lap four, but it was Pic who prevailed in the end, crossing the line less than a second ahead of the GP3 frontrunner.

Another expected frontrunner Harry Tincknell qualified in third, but was punted out of the race in a turn one collision. With the Briton sidelined, MRF Challenge expert Yudai Jinkawa slotted into the final podium position. Sam Dejonghe and Rupert Svendsen-Cook completed the top five.

Having captured a reverse-grid front row start for race two, Svendsen-Cook then promptly proceeded to run away with the win, with the only hiccup coming when he accidentally engaged the pit-lane limiter on the final straight. However, that was not sufficient to rob the Briton of the victory, as he finished ahead of second-placed Dejonghe, who himself kept Ellinas at bay. The Cypriot, who rounded out the podium, moved into the championship lead.

Jinkawa took fourth, holding back Pic after the Frenchman made an early mistake when fighting for third.

Report: Pic holds off Ellinas to win MRF opener

Report: Svendsen-Cook wins second MRF race

Next round: Sakhir, 28-29 November

French F4

Hubert does the feature race double, Deguffroy takes reverse-grid victory

French F4 champion Anthoine Hubert rounded out the season in regular fashion, taking two victories from two poles in the Paul Ricard finale.

In race one, Hubert drove a controlled race to take the win, with Dennis Anoschin and Jules Gounon finishing close behind to complete the podium. The usual frontrunners Felix Hirsiger and Matevos Isaakyan rounded out the top five.

The reverse-grid race two was, as usual, the most hectic of the bunch. While qualifying pacesetters Hubert and Ivan Kostyukov were out of the running early on, the drama didn’t stop there as Isaakyan and Amaury Rossero came together while fighting for the lead. As such, Deguffroy inherited first and cruised to his maiden French F4 victory, ahead of Gounon and Tom Le Coq, while Anoschin and Neal van Vaerenbergh made up the top five finishers.

Hubert was back to winning ways in the final race of the year, converting pole into victory, with Kostyukov taking a close second. Hirsiger, van Vaerenbergh and Le Coq took third, fourth and fifth respctively.

Report: Hubert converts race one pole to victory at Paul Ricard

Report: Deguffroy takes maiden French F4 victory in second Paul Ricard race

Report: Hubert rounds out season with second Paul Ricard victory

Formula Masters China

Wright clinches FMCS title in climactic Shanghai finale

Photo: Formula Masters China

With three drivers coming into the Formula Masters China finale at Shanghai, the series was looking at the possibility of a very close title fight. And, in the end, it turned out almost a little too close, as the championship was decided hours after the final race drew to a close.

Australian racer Aidan Wright enjoyed a ten-point lead over teammate Afiq Ikhwan ahead of the final three races, with Akash Nandy a further 11 behind. In qualifying, however, it was Nandy who performed, taking one of the poles, with Ikhwan sealing two front row starts and Wright failing to do better than fourth.

In race one, Thai driver Tanart Sathienthirakul took center stage, achieving his maiden victory in the series from pole. It wasn’t all easy for the Eurasia driver, as he had to fight with Nandy, but the Malaysian soon settled into second before spinning out on the final lap, which virtually put an end to his title hopes.

Ikhwan took second, narrowly beating out Matthew Solomon. Ren Nagabuchi was fourth, while series guest Dan Wells narrowly bested Wright for fifth.

Things were looking up for Ikhwan coming into the second race, as the Malaysian was just two points down on Wright and had race two pole to go along. He promptly converted that into a race victory, finishing ahead Sathienthirakul, Solomon and Wright, who was now five points off the lead. Nagabuchi took fifth, while sixth went to Nandy, which mathematically eliminated him out of contention.

The title came down to the wire in race three. An excellent start from Wright saw him move into the lead from fourth on the grid and, following a safety car period, the Aussie comfortably took the car to the checkered flag.

However, Wright’s win would not guarantee him the title, with Ikhwan needing to finish second to become champion. He did just that, but all celebrations were postponed when both contenders found themselves under investigation post-race – Wright for overtaking Ikhwan under yellows and the Malaysian for coming together with third-placed Sathienthirakul on the final lap.

It came down to two very tough calls for the stewards. And, whilst the first one allowed Wright to keep the win, the second one gave him the title, as Ikhwan was demoted a spot in the classification.

Report: Sathienthirakul victorious in first race of Shanghai finale

Report: Ikhwan takes points lead with Shanghai race two win

Report: Wright wins Shanghai finale, crowned champion post-race

F3 Sudamericana

F3 Sudam’s main class leader Felipe Guimaraes edged as close as ever to the title, as he took two victories in the Taruma round of the championship.

For the second time in the season, the Brazilian missed out on pole to Argentinian Class B leader Bruno Etman. However, having secured a front row start, Guimaraes ended up in a prime position to challenge for the win,as he overtook Etman on the tenth lap and proceeded to take the checkered flag.

Gustavo Myasava followed Guimaraes in second, finishing close behind the leader. With Etman calling it a day due to a mechanical failure, it was the other Class B runner Artur Fortunato who got to round out the podium.

Rodrigo Gonzalez started the reverse-grid race two from pole, but wound up surrendering the lead to Raphael Raucci right away. The RR Racing Team driver got to lead for three laps, before retiring from the race while defending first from Guimaraes.

The championship leader was then free to cruise to victory, which he did, as Myasava and Etman completed the podium.

In the Class A standings, Guimaraes leads Raucci by 36 points, with 80 available over the remaining four races. Meanwhile, Etman enjoys a 32-point lead over Fortunato.

Next round: Cascavel, 16-17 November

Panam GP

Rodolfo Camarillo was another driver to make a crucial step towards the title this weekend, as he took a double victory in the penultimate round of the season at Chiapas.

Things were rather straightforward in the opening race, as Camarillo started from pole and controlled the race to the checkered flag. Sebastian Ordonez and Luis Michael Dorrbecker battled it out fr the rest of the podium positions, with Ordonez eventually taking second. As Dorrbecker took third, Vicente Bas had to settle for fourth after a closing stages mistake, while Giancarlo Vecchi was very close behind in fifth.

The reverse-grid race was a bit more unpredictable, but eventually, the usual suspects took over at the front. Vecchi led the race from lap three, but was soon dethroned by Camarillo, who brought the car home to complete the double.

In a close fight for second, Vecchi maintained the position, as Dorrbecker held on to third, ahead of Hugo Becerra and Pablo Sanchez.

Camarillo’s title now appears to be a formality, as he needs only a small handful of points in the final round to make it official. Sanchez is now the only other driver with a mathematical shot at the championship.

Next round: Interlomas, November 23-24

PaddockScout Driver of the Weekend

Anthoine Hubert

Title or not, it’s always important to finish a season on a high note. And Hubert, the reverse-grid retirement notwithstanding, did just that. After a couple of tough rounds in the latter part in the season, the finale reminded everyone why Anthoine cruised to the title in the first place.

The post Roundup: Pic and Svendsen-Cook score victories in MRF opener appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: DPPI

French F4 champion Anthoine Hubert has finished his title-winning season on a strong note, taking the victory in the final race of the championship at Paul Ricard.

Hubert commenced the race in pole position and held the line off the lead, while, alongside him, front row starter Felix Hirsiger tumbled down to fourth. The Frenchman then stayed the course until the checkered flag, crossing the line a second and a half clear of the rest.

In second place, Ivan Kostyukov recorded his career best finish in the championship. Tom Le Coq originally overtook Hirsiger for third, but the Swiss driver was soon back ahead, rounding out the podium.

Le Coq held off Neal van Vaerenbergh for fourth, while Matevos Isaakyan took sixth. Jules Gounon edged out Remy Deguffroy for seventh, as Amaury Richard and Simo Muhonen completed the top ten.

Race results

The post Hubert rounds out season with second Paul Ricard victory 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

The post Deguffroy takes maiden French F4 victory in second Paul Ricard race appeared first on Formula Scout.

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

The post Hubert secures double pole in final French F4 qualifying appeared first on Formula Scout.

Marciello did all he could to build up a points advantage ahead of the Hockenheim decider (Photo: FIA F3)

Two series’ title favorites finally seal the deal, while Marciello regains the lost points cushion with stellar Vallelunga performance…

FIA F3 European Championship

Marciello edges away in title fight despite race two mechanical failure

With the European F3 title fight distilled to one leader in Raffaele Marciello and one chaser in Felix Rosenqvist rather early on, the duo have been taking turns to outscore each other for most of the second half of the calendar.

At Vallelunga, the ball was in Marciello’s court, as, on a track that both he and his team knew rather well, there was no matching the Ferrari junior. Unsurprisingly, Marciello topped both qualifying sessions despite the tricky weather conditions (narrowly missing out on race two pole on second-best times) and proceeded to cruise to victory in both races one and three. His weekend was dented in the second race, as Marciello’s Prema machine ended up breaking down on the grid, which denied him the chance to put the title beyond doubt before the season finale at Hockenheim.

Marciello’s title ambitions were helped out by Rosenqvist’s continued woes throughout the weekend. With the Mucke car struggling for pace on the Italian track, Rosenqvist’s shunt in qualifying one didn’t help matters, as changeable conditions would leave him last on the grid for the first two races. To the Swede’s credit, he valiantly made his way into the top ten on both occasions, and then proceeded to go from 13th on the grid to sixth in race three. Ahead of the finale at Hockenheim, that now leaves him a whopping 45.5 points off of Marciello with 75 up for grabs.

Rosenqvist pulled off an impressive amount of overtakes from the back of the grid (Photo: FIA F3)

The continued fight for third in the championship between Prema teammates Alex Lynn and Lucas Auer saw the former practically secure the spot. The Briton had a very strong weekend, punctuated with a stellar victory in race two, while the Austrian ended up bogged down in the top ten on all three occasions, with the third race providing his second retirement of the year. Meanwhile, their final teammate, Eddie Cheever, made an outright stellar case for being retained by the team in 2014. Undoubtedly bolstered by track knowledge, the local driver scored two of his best finishes in the championship in fourth and fifth and, despite an unlucky early retirement in race three, will have a lot to take from this weekend.

With Prema running the show at home turf, it was yet again a fight between Carlin and Fortec for the occasional podium finish. For Carlin, Daniil Kvyat continued his strong streak of recent performances, with three top-ten finishes and, among them, a podium. Fortec regulars Pipo Derani and Felix Serralles were also in contention for top three spots and, while the Brazilian managed to repeat his career best FIA F3 finish of second in race three, Serralles had a very erratic weekend, crashing out of the top ten on all three occasions.

Finally, while victory continues to elude T-Sport’s guest veteran Alexander Sims in FIA F3 this year, he had another fantastic weekend, finishing it as the only driver in the field to make it to the podium all three times.

Report: Marciello controls race one at Vallelunga

Report: Lynn dominates hectic race two at Vallelunga

Report: Marciello bounces back in race three at Vallelunga

Next round: Hockenheim, October 19-20

Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

Rowland dominates while Parry seals the title

Rowland bossed the field in difficult weather conditions (Photo: Chris Schotanus)

With a 75-point advantage over the nearest rival in the standings and 90 available in the season finale at Zandvoort, Matt Parry was expected to have little trouble in securing the championship. Indeed, that prediction came to light, as a fourth-place finish in race one saw the young Welshman crowned the Formula Renault 2.0 2013 champion.

While Parry and title rival Jack Aitken placed comfortably in the top ten in qualifying, it was Eurocup title contender Oliver Rowland who stole the show, taking double pole with breakthrough performer Alfonso Celis lining up alongside.

Rowland would prove completely untouchable in race one, calmly running off with the victory as other Eurocup guests and NEC regulars fought it ouf for the final podium slots. Eventually, Raoul Owens pipped Steijn Schothorst for second just before the closing stages safety car, only to lose the car in the final corners of the race, putting a dent on an otherwise excellent performance. Schothorst, therefore, inherited second, with another Eurocup man Andrea Pizzitola rounding out the podium. The trio of frontrunning NEC regulars – Parry, Aitken and Dennis Olsen – followed through, which marked the official end of the 2013 title fight.

It was for the best for Parry to put the championship beyond doubt in race one, because he would wind up retiring early on in race two, which set the tone for a hectic event in very wet conditions. Safety cars and incidents aside, Rowland was once again imperious, while RC Formula’s Roman Mavlanov made the most of a good qualifying to take second away from Celis – with both of them securing first podiums of the season. Among the other NEC regulars, Aitken shined, overtaking both Olsen and Schothorst for P4 in the end of the race.

The weather conditions turned so tough ahead of race three that it ended up called off, putting an early end to a very entertaining round.

Report: Third victory for Rowland as Parry secures title

Report: Rowland delivers wet-track master class in Zandvoort race two

Report: Race three cancellation ends NEC?s 2013 season

French F4

Anthoine Hubert crowned champion despite missing out on race wins

Despite a few bumps down the road, Hubert emerged from Ledenon as the deserved French F4 champion (Photo: DPPI)

Following a somewhat difficult outing at previous Magny-Cours, Anthoine Hubert has at last secured the French F4 championship title, having been largely dominant in the series throughout the whole year.

Things didn’t go quite as smoothly as hoped for the championship leader, though, as he had to be crowned champion twice over throughout the Ledenon outing. He won race one from pole, which would mathematically give him the trophy – however, he was denied early celebrations post-race, when the stewards deemed his corner one defending against Jules Gounon illegal. Gounon, his chief title rival, ended up inheriting the victory as Hubert was demoted to the outskirts of the top ten. The usual suspects at the front – Felix Hirsiger, Tristan Viidas and Matevos Isaakyan – completed the top ten.

The reverse-grid race two wound up being the highlight of the weekend, punctuated with an excellent fight for first between front row starters Tom Le Coq and Remy Deguffroy. At the checkered flag, Le Coq, who was defending almost non-stop for 14 laps, held on to his first win.

Gounon looked set to outscore Hubert, possibly harboring the chance of keeping the title fight alive, but a messy move on French F4 newcomer Paul Hokfelt landed him a penalty. As such, Hubert, who finished narrowly behind third-placed Neal van Vaerenbergh, was finally confirmed as the champion.

Race three ended up being the most straightforward, as Gounon converted a front row start into a victory, followed by poleman Viidas, Hubert and Hirsiger.

Report: Hubert made to wait as Gounon is given Ledenon win

Report: Le Coq scores maiden win, Hubert ensures title

Report: Hubert made to wait as Gounon is given Ledenon win

Next round: Paul Ricard, October 26-27

Formula Ford GB

Rosso closes out season with three victories at Brands

Rosso brought dominance back to Formula Ford (Photo: Formula Ford GB)

The tenth round of the Formula Ford 2013 season has given us the ninth triple victory, yet, for the first time, it was not courtesy of the series champion Dan Cammish.

Again, just like in the penultimate round, it seemed that the fight for victories would be blown wide open. Qualifying seemed to confirm that, with James Abbott, series debutant Simon Rudd and regular frontrunner Juan Angel Rosso shared the poles for the three races.

In race one, Rosso got ahead of both Abbott and Rudd on lap one, subsequently cruising to victory. The poleman managed to keep up with Rosso for most of the race, but eventually lost ground and ended up surrendering second to Harrison Scott on the final lap.

Starting from the front row in race two, Rosso was, again, into the lead on lap one. He enjoyed another controlled race, eventually crossing the line around two seconds ahead of nearest rival Jayde Kruger, as Scott took another podium in third.

Finally, in a rather messy final race in difficult conditions, Rosso was one of the few drivers to enjoy a rather trouble-free run, as he converted pole into win number three. The podium was rounded out by privateer drivers Andy Richardson and Abbott.

Formula Renault 1.6 NEC

Geerts decreases gap to Rump ahead of season finale

Larry ten Voorde converted his third pole into a maiden win in a hectic, shortened rain race (Photo: Chris Schotanus)

Dutchman Roy Geerts kept the FR1.6 NEC title fight alive and well in the penultimate round of the series at Zandvoort, as he took sixteen points out of Martin Rump‘s lead in the championship.

While Larry ten Voorde starred in qualifying, taking double pole, it was Geerts who stole the spotlight in race one, stealing the lead from his compatriot on the opening lap and keeping him at bay until the checkered flag. With ten Voorde taking second, Rump finished third, with another championship frontrunner Janneau Esmeijer taking fourth.

Race two took place in rather extreme weather conditions and, as such, barely saw any laps of green flag running. The first racing stint in-between safety car periods saw Esmeijer exit the race early, while the second resulted in a red flag. Therefore, the podium ended up the same – with ten Voorde winning and Geerts taking second on lap countback, ahead of Rump and championship rookie Jan Schwitter.

Ahead of the series finale at Assen, Rump leads Geerts by 6 points. Esmeijer is barely hanging on to title hopes in third, 58 points off of Rump with 60 available.

Report: Roy Geerts victorious in first Zandvoort race

Report: Ten Voorde scores maiden win in red-flagged Zandvoort race

Next round: Assen, October 19-20

PaddockScout Driver of the Weekend

Raffaele Marciello

His dominance at Vallelunga might’ve been rather expected, but surely was no small feat, given the pressure mounted on the Ferrari junior after Zandvoort. Two wins in two races and a retirement that was out of his hands wound up giving him a nice points gap ahead of Hockenheim and, really, there isn’t much more Prema could ask for.

The post Roundup: Marciello closes in on title with two Vallelunga wins appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: DPPI

Jules Gounon managed to keep Tristan Viidas and Anthoine Hubert at bay to take his second victory of the Lenedon French F4 round.

The 18-year-old Frenchman lined up on the front row alongside poleman Viidas and managed to get ahead of the Estonian on the opening lap. He would not relinquish the lead for the subsequent 14 laps and crossed the line in first.

While Viidas mostly managed to keep up with the leader, he never quite mounted a challenge, eventually settling for second ahead of newly-crowned series champion Hubert.

Felix Hirsiger, who was briefly into third during the opening stages of the race, took fourth, seeing off the challenge from Marco de Peretti. The latter ran comfortably in the top ten before an incident on lap 13 put him out of the points.

Neal van Vaerenbergh took fifth, ahead of Paul Hokfelt and Tom Le Coq. Russian duo Kirill Karpov and Matevos Isaakyan were eighth and ninth respectively, whilst Florian Pottier completed the top ten.

Race results

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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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