Gounon doubles up at Magny-Cours

Photo: DPPI

Despite starting tenth in the reverse-grid race two after his earlier victory, Jules Gounon took another win in French F4 at a damp Magny-Cours.

Dennis Anoschin, who started from front row, enjoyed a better launch off the grid than poleman Florian Pottier and started pulling away while the field behind was slowed down by several incidents and general pace discrepancies. After a chaotic first few laps, Anoschin settled into a three-second gap over Estonian Tristan Viidas, who looked most capable in the early stages of the race.

However, as the Estonian’s pace dropped, Gounon became his main worry, with the Frenchman methodically making up positions lap after lap. Eventually, Gounon took second and began chasing after Anoschin. The German managed to hold him off until the closing minutes, when he ran wide into the hairpin, allowing Gounon to attempt a risky move on the inside. The duo touched on the corner exit, but no damage followed – Gounon managed to snatch away the lead and, from that point on, it was smooth sailing for the Frenchman.

With Anoschin settling for second, Marco de Peretti took his first French F4 podium in third. De Peretti found sublime pace on the damp track and was at points the quickest driver in the field, charging his way to third place. On the final laps, he came under severe pressure from a recovering Viidas and even let him through on the final lap, only to take the position back several corners later.

Poleman Pottier ended up fifth, ahead of Amaury Rossero and Felix Hirsiger. Valentin Naud came back from a retirement in race one to finish eighth, while Kirill Karpov took ninth. Remy Deguffroy rounded out the top ten.

Championship leader Anthoine Hubert was involved in several incidents throughout of the race and eventually fell out of the points after being spun around by Karpov while exiting the hairpin.

With Hubert losing 15 points to Viidas in race two, his chances to seal the title this weekend now appear slim, with a 143 points advantage over the Estonian and a 160 advantage needed at the end of the round.

Race results