Despite intense pressure in the final few laps, Javier Cobian crossed the line to take his second win of the season at Circuit de Catalunya. The result helps him in the battle for third place in the French F4 Championship with two more races this weekend.
It was a strong start for polesitter. After surviving the first lap, the Spanish racer quickly set about breaking away from the pack, with Hugo Chevalier narrowly behind.
It has been a clean start for most drivers, as champion Ye Yifei settled into seventh, having only jumped one place at the start. It has been a terrible end of year for the Chinese driver, but domination in the first half had helped his cause.
Aleks Karkosik had qualified second, but found himself slipping backwards during the race, as the field bunched up behind him. In turn, he allowed the field to battle over the positions behind as Arthur Rougier and Pierre-Alexander Jean inherited their place in the top four.
Rougier hadn’t finished higher than fourth all season, and needed to prove his ability, setting the fastest lap to close in on second place Chevalier. The #2 car duly responded, but Rougier went on to break his record once again and finally found a way past on lap nine.
Elsewhere, another points finish for Theo Coicurd went begging as he pulled off to retire on the main straight. The result will be disappointing after a consistently strong outing at Le Mans Bugatti Circuit. While Marvin Klien later received a drive through for a collision on track.
With three minutes left on the clock the battle for the lead started to gain traction as Cobian fell into the clutches of Rougier and Chevalier. Only Cobian had won a race before this round and both him and Chevalier needed the points in the battle for third in the championship.
On the final lap, Rougier committed to the overtake, but Cobian was wise to the move and blocked him off allowing Chevalier to slip through and inherit second. The Spaniard’s second win of the season, closes the gap on his rivals in the championship.
Behind the podium finishers Ye took fourth with Tristan Charpentier losing ground in the battle for third, by finishing fifth. Jean fell to sixth, finishing in front of Jean-Baptise Mela and Michael Benyahia.
