The drivers in the French F4 Championship had their qualifying session this morning Saturday 9th September. South African Stuart White clinched pole from Victor Martins and Charles Milesi and the fifth round already looks like being a thrilling one.
On Friday the drivers practised on a dry track. This morning qualifying took place in wet conditions. This session kept the public on their toes right till the very end and finally Stuart White clinched pole. Victor Martins, who was very quick throughout qualifying, set the second-fastest time just behind the South African.
The two junior drivers battled for several laps until White grabbed pole last time round. Charles Milesi gradually upped the pace during the session and took third place in the closing laps. Christian Muñoz, very much at home on the French circuit since the start of the weekend, was fourth quickest and completed the second row followed by Hugo Chevalier in fifth.
Pierre-Alexandre Jean, who scored his first win here last year, will join Chevalier on the third row. On the fourth are Arthur Rougier and Amaury Cordeel in that order after a solid qualifying session even if Rougier, the current championship leader, was aiming for pole. Belgian driver Ugo de Wilde was very quick after the summer break and seems to like the Nevers Magny-Cours layout.
Behind in the pack the gaps were very small. There was very little between the times of Florian Venturi, Jean-Baptiste Mela, Thomas Drouet and Javier Gonzalez. Their aim will be to break into the top 10 in the three races this weekend. Noah Watt having his first outing in the French F4 Championship was not far behind his rivals making a good start to his weekend. Marvin Klein was unable to repeat his promising showing in free practice despite being in first place at the halfway mark of this morning’s qualifying session and finished 15th. Pierre-Louis Chovet was last as he continues to dial himself in at the wheel of an F4 and may show what he can do in the coming races.
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.
Timetable of the meeting – Magny-Cours
Saturday 9th September 2017
14:05 Race1
Sunday 10th September 2017
10:55 Race2
16:20 Race3
Classification: qualifying – French F4 Championship at Magny-Cours
Stuart WHITE 1m54.136sec
Victor MARTINS +0.569sec
Charles MILESI +0.865sec
Christian MUÑOZ +0.965sec
Hugo CHEVALIER +1.244sec
Pierre-Alexandre JEAN +1.517sec
Arthur ROUGIER +1.593sec
Amaury CORDEEL +1.786sec
Ugo DE WILDE +1.922sec
Florian VENTURI +1.924sec
Jean-Baptiste MELA +2.037sec
Thomas DROUET +2.427sec
Javier GONZALEZ +2.490sec
Noah WATT +2.500sec
Marvin KLEIN +2.522sec
Pierre-Louis CHOVET +3.370sec