Simo Laaksonen takes his first win in French F4 this year after making the most of an incident which saw many of his rivals fall by the wayside. His result earns him 25 points and means he catches up to Axel Matus in the championship, who coincidently finished second.
The reverse grid race meant that the American Michael Benyahia started on pole, a position he kept for the opening portion of the race. He struggled to build a lead however and was quickly under threat from the cars behind, with only 2 laps completed, he was spun around at the hairpin and dropped to the back of the grid.
He’d been hit by Axel Matus, who lunged as to defend from Laaksonen behind. Three into one proved disastrous for the race lead while Matus continued as Laaksonen took the lead.
The Finnish driver built up a lead to cross the line, 4 seconds ahead of Matus who couldn’t keep up in the closing stages despite getting away from the threat from behind.
Kami Laliberte finished third claiming his first French F4 podium. He’d had a tougher race than the drivers in front as he held off a four car train in the closing stages after an outstanding defensive display.
In fourth was Reuben Kressner who performed well after a poor start saw him drop down the order initially, while Julien Andlauer claimed fifth having taken Giuliano Alesi in the final laps.
Alesi, son of Formula 1 race winner Jean Alesi, had started outside of the top eight after a poor opening race but will be pleased to have collected points when the top three in the championship all failed to score.
Championship leader, Valentin Moineault spun on the second lap after reacting to the crash with Benyahia in front, while Sacha Fenestraz and Gabriel Aubry both collected damage from various racing incidents, seeing them retire.
