FRENCH F4 CHAMPIONSHIP 2017

Qualifying for the fourth round of the French F4 Championship, the halfway mark of the season for the drivers, took place mid-morning Saturday 10th June. Arthur Rougier confirmed his status as leader by setting the fastest time in front of Pierre-Alexandre Jean and Victor Martins.

After a free practice session the previous day on a soaking wet track the drivers in the French F4 Championship took part in qualifying this morning. Before going out they had very few reference points because of yesterday’s session in poor conditions. Even so one driver emerged head and shoulders above the others.
Arthur Rougier, in keeping with his status as leader, set the quickest time in qualifying for the Spa Francorchamps meeting, the theatre of the mid-season point in the French F4 Championship. He was the only driver to break into the 2m 30sec bracket with a lap in 2m 30.983sec, and he dominated his rivals improving each time round. In beautiful sunlight Pierre-Alexandre Jean and Victor Martins on slicks dead-heated for the second-best time. As Jean was the first to set it he was awarded second place on the grid.
Not far behind these three came Javier Gonzalez in fourth place, which he was very pleased about. Jean-Baptiste Mela, Stuart White, Florian Venturi, Christian Muñoz and Ugo de Wilde all lapped in over 2m 32secs and were covered by just four-tenths-of-a-second. De Wilde’s eight-quickest time in qualifying was a great effort as it hints at a good performance in the races so the local lad may score his first points in the championship.
Overall the gaps between the drivers in the French F4 Championship were pretty small. Thomas Drouet, Hugo Chevalier and Casper Røes all lapped in the same second and were covered by two-tenths in that order. Marvin Klein, 13th, couldn’t do any better than a quickest time over 2m 33sec like Aldo Festante just behind him.
Amaury Cordeel continued to learn the Spa-Francorchamps layout and set the 15th-quickest time. Antoine Horemans having his first outing in the French F4 Championship finished at the bottom of the timesheets, but gained previous experience after the 10 laps he completed in qualifying on a dry track. Charles Milesi was absent and should be back for the next round at Magny-Cours in September.
In compliance with the FFSA Academy regulations, the grid positions for each of the three races during the weekend will be allocated as follows:
– Race 1: according to the second-fastest time of each driver in the qualifying session,
– Race 2: according to the classification of race 1 with the first 10 in reverse order,
– Race 3: according to the fastest time of each driver in the qualifying session.

Qualifying classification – French F4 Championship at Spa

Arthur ROUGIER 2m30.983sec
Pierre-Alexandre JEAN +0.710sec
Victor MARTINS +0.710sec
Javier GONZALEZ +0.874sec
Jean-Baptiste MELA +1.025sec
Stuart WHITE +1.129sec
Florian VENTURI +1.214sec
Christian MUÑOZ +1.223sec
Ugo DE WILDE +1.504sec
Thomas DROUET +1.695sec
Hugo CHEVALIER +1.742sec
Casper ROES ANDERSEN +1.801sec
Marvin KLEIN +2.525sec
Aldo FESTANTE +2.586sec
Amaury CORDEEL +3.468sec
Antoine HOREMANS +4.919sec