The Paul Ricard circuit concluded the FIA French F4 Championship in 2019, with the title awarded to Hadrien David on that occasion. This year, the event organised in the town of Le Castellet will see the FFSA Academy pass the mid-season mark. After a double victory at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, the Japanese driver Ayumu Iwasa will take the lead in the general classification ahead of his compatriot Ren Sato.
No doubt there will be many Europeans looking to tip the balance back in their favour. As we saw during the last meeting, the racing is more competitive than ever and it won’t take much for drivers like the repeater Isack Hadjar (France) or Marijn Kremers (Netherlands) to make the drivers from the land of the rising sun waver. If the latter will unfortunately have to miss out on the Paul Ricard due to his participation in the World Karting Championship, the Feed Racing team will take the opportunity to replace him by Frenchman Etienne Cheli, who finished 2nd in the Volant in 2019.
Sami Meguetounif has seen some ups and downs since the beginning of the season, but the Frenchman from close to Paul Ricard will be determined to shine at home. Valentino Catalano was again very strong at Zandvoort and the German driver wants to take the first step of the overall podium, in addition to his continual victories in the Junior class.
For the moment, Mexican Rafael Villagomez and Frenchman Loris Cabirou are outsiders, but they don’t want to stop there. The Ukrainian Ivan Peklin at Magny-Cours and the Frenchman Romain Leroux in Zandvoort have each won a Race 2, the one with a reversed grid for the top 10 in Race 1. It is up to them to qualify well if they want to beat the Japanese drivers in the other races.
Daniel Ligier will be racing after his first victory in Junior, whereas Owen Tangavelou and Noah Andy, less experienced than the rest of the field, will try to increase their points in the Championship. Besides the arrival of Cheli, the meeting will be marked by the presence of a driver from India, Yash Aradhya, whose debut has been delayed due to Coronavirus. It should be noted that the event will take place within the framework of the prestigious FFSA GT4 French Championship.
2020 Paul Ricard F4 Programme
Friday, 2nd October: Free Practice (10:45 – 11:15) and Qualifying Practice (15:00 – 15:25)
Saturday 3rd October: Race 1 (09:25) and Race 2 (14:30)
Sunday 4th October: Race 3 (09:30)
Info FFSA Academy / Photo © KSP – Guillaume Veuve