It’s famously hard to score perfect weekends in Junior racing, thanks to the reverse grid feature that ensures those who finish at the front aren’t allowed to dominate, but despite this, Ye Yifei joined a short list of drivers to score full points, collecting all 106 over the four French F4 races and qualifying.
His Friday qualifying performance saw him on pole, but it was his dominance in the race that saw him cement his place at the top of the standings, pulling out a 5 second gap over the course of the third race.
Behind him, Tristan Charpentier managed to not too much ground after a poor start in race one saw him fall outside the top eight from second on the grid. Despite this, he still lost a position to Hugo Chevalier, who defended his line for the remainder of the race and picking up an important podium.
The podium proved more vital as his main rival Michael Benyahia was forced to start from the pits due a technical issue. The American fought his way into the midfield but was unable to make it into the points, losing him vital ground and crucially a higher grid position for race four.
There was minimal action in the final race of the weekend, with the exception of an outstanding drive from Spanish racer Javier Cobian. After a technical problem put him out of race three, he was forced his way through to claim an outstanding fourth place.
Meanwhile, Ye, who started on pole thanks to his race three win, continued to lead from the front as Chevalier and Charpentier once again picked up the final podium places. Behind them, Pierre-Alexandre Jean ended a strong weekend with a fifth place after collecting a fourth in race three.
The result saw Ye leave the weekend with the full 106 points available, while his nearest rival, Chevalier has 72. The highest placed newcomer to the series was Charpentier, leaving Paul Ricard with 42 points, 12 higher than Benyahia behind. Meanwhile, Cobian and Jean are tied for fifth place with 24 points each.
After the race, Ye commented, saying; “I knew I could do a good job as I have more experience than the majority of my mates, but I was really surprised to fight my way from tenth to first place in the second race. Even so the overall level is pretty high. I hope I’ll be able to maintain these gaps at the next event,”
