The 2014 French Formula 4 Championship season got under way on the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans in wet conditions and saw Australian Joseph Mawson win from Danish driver Lasse Sorensen and Frenchman Dorian Boccolacci.
Mawson led away from pole position, but fellow front-row starter Felix Hirsiger made a mess of his getaway and slipped down to sixth place at the end of the first lap. Sorensen slipped into second ahead of Valentin Moineault. Boccolacci had an amazing first few laps, and moved from tenth on the grid to third place in the race by the end of lap three where he would remain until the end of the race, finishing on the tail of Sorensen ahead of him.
Another Frenchman Amaury Richard finished just off the podium in fourth place, with Russian Vladimir Atoev in fifth. Hirsiger recovered from his poor start and a trip through the gravel trap to claim sixth, and set the fastest lap of the race in the process in an interesting race for the Anglo-Swiss driver.
Seventh place went to Swiss driver Paul Hokfelt Jr, who started last on the grid but fought his way impressively through the field. Eighth went to another Frenchman in the form of Erwan Jule, with Swede Reuben Kressner and Frenchman Bryan Elpitiya completing the top ten.
The start of race two will see the top ten of race one reversed, so Elpitiya and Kressner will share the front row, with Jule and Hokfelt Jr on row two.
Le Mans Race 1 Result (Top 10)
POS | DRIVER | NAT | TIME |
1 | Joseph Mawson | AUS | 20m47.126s |
2 | Lasse Sorensen | DEN | +3.136s |
3 | Dorian Boccolacci | FRA | +6.093s |
4 | Amaury Richard | FRA | +6.511s |
5 | Vladimir Atoev | RUS | +6.970s |
6 | Felix Hirsiger | GBR | +12.694s |
7 | Paul Hokfelt Jr | SWI | +13.700s |
8 | Erwan Jule | FRA | +18.881s |
9 | Reuben Kressner | SWE | +19.489s |
10 | Bryan Elpitiya | FRA | +23.409s |