The second round of the French F4 Championship got off to an almost summery start on the Lédenon circuit, with the Free Practice session at the start of the day and the fastest time set by Frenchman Augustin Bernier ahead of Japan’s Taito Kato, Luxembourger Chester Kieffer and Championship leader Jules Caranta. The duel was on, with the promise of a lively Qualifying session on new tyres. This promise was kept, with the order changing throughout the 25 minutes.
Once again, tyre use and tyre warm-up remained key factors in the battle for the top spots. Augustin Bernier was the first to dip below the 1’21 mark, but many others would follow suit. The polemen followed one after the other: Jules Caranta, the Belgian Yani Stevenheydens, Jules Roussel, Taito Kato and then Jules Caranta again. Many of the drivers decided to let their Pirelli tyres cool down on the way back to the pits in order to wait for the best window to try and improve.
Already very fast in the first part of the session, Chester Kieffer in turn took the lead, followed by Kato who got in ahead of Caranta. Caught in traffic, Caranta was unable to improve. The situation remained unchanged. Jules Roussel also retained his position, 4th, while Rayan Caretti and Augustin Bernier were 5th and 6th respectively ahead of the first winner of the season at Nogaro, Belgian Yani Stevenheydens, who was hoping for better from this session.
The top 10 was completed by Irishman Alex O’Grady, German Montego Maassen and Andorran Frank Porte Ruiz. Andorra’s Frank Porte Ruiz will have the advantage of starting from pole position in Race 2, which will be contested on the basis of a reverse grid for the top 10 finishers in qualifying.
In Race 3, Japan’s Taito Kato will start first ahead of Jules Caranta and Chester Kieffer following the second best times of each driver.
Lédenon 2024 F4 programme
Saturday 11th May: Race 1 (09:45 – 10:15) and Race 2 (15:55 – 16:25)
Sunday 12th May: Race 3 (09:10 – 09:40)
Follow the races live on www.ffsaacademy.org.
Info FFSA Academy / Photo © KSP – Guillaume Veuve