French F4 Championship

The seventh and final round of the French F4 Championship got off to a flying start for Alessandro Giusti, current leader of the provisional standings. Already the fastest during the Free Practice in the morning, the Frenchman managed a perfect Qualifying session in the afternoon on the Paul Ricard circuit. By taking the pole position for Races 1 and 3, he took a clear advantage on his Australian rival Hugh Barter, ranked 3rd behind the Japanese driver Souta Arao.

Under the sun of south-eastern France, the last Qualifying session of the season was eagerly awaited by the 24 drivers present at Le Castellet. With the tyres remaining good until the end of the session, the ranking changed frequently throughout the 25 minutes during which the drivers looked for the best moment to exploit the maximum effectiveness of the Pirelli tyres.

A coveted top 10

Alessandro Giusti and Hugh Barter made their presence felt on their fourth lap, immediately taking the top two places. Talent waits for no one, as they say, and both the Frenchman and the Australian confirmed their position at the top of the provisional French Championship ranking. Thanks to a reference time of 2:06.992, Giusti will remain the only driver to go under the 2:07 mark! On the following lap, he set an excellent 2nd best lap, which guaranteed him pole position in two of the three races of the Provencal meeting.

The following lap, Eliott Vayron was provisionally positioned behind the leading duo. It was not until the very end of the session that Japanese driver Souta Arao took 2nd place from Barter. This was also the moment that Pierre-Alexandre Provost and Pablo Sarrazin chose to take 4th and 6th place respectively. This was Sarrazin’s best qualification of the year. Vayron was finally 5th in the Qualifying session.

Louis Pelet was only three hundredths of a second row for Race 1, but the young Frenchman will have a great card to play this weekend. Behind, the positions were also very close, with eight drivers grouped together in only 6 tenths. Switzerland’s Dario Cabanelas, Colombia’s Jeronimo Berrio and Yuto Nomura narrowly won their top 10 places and will benefit from the reversed grid for Race 2. Enzo Peugeot, Romain Andriolo, Enzo Geraci, Ecuador’s Mateo Villagomez and Germany’s Max Reis came close to a better result.

Race 1 & 2

The suspense was over in Race 1! While the Japanese driver Arao won, the Frenchman Giusti secured the title during this last F4 meeting at Paul Ricard. Colombian driver Berrio won Race 2 after a superb and intense final duel.

A race incident at the start of Race 1 definitively sealed the fate of the French F4 Championship run by the FFSA Academy. Alessandro Giusti’s direct rival in the race for the title, Australia’s Hugh Barter lost precious places from the start following an incident with Elliott Vayron and Pablo Sarrazin, as well as his last chance to take the lead over Giusti in the general classification. Even though he was passed on the first lap by Souta Arao from Japan, the Frenchman saw his horizon brighten up a bit more. A few laps later, Giusti set the fastest lap in Arao’s wake, but he didn’t take any risks in the hunt for the title.

Provost joins Arao and Giusti on the podium

Behind the leading duo, Pierre-Alexandre Provost quickly secured his 3rd place in Race 1, leaving his pursuers to fight it out for the top spots. Enzo Peugeot started 11th and made spectacular progress. He overtook Romain Andriolo and Japanese driver Yotu Nomura on the first lap, before successively overtaking Colombian driver Jeronimo Berrio and Louis Pelet to take 4th place. Vayron, who was unleashed after his misfortune at the beginning of the race, was 8th behind Pelet, Berrio and Andriolo. After the incident on the first lap, Pablo Sarrazin came back to 11th behind Nomura and the German Max Reis, who scored a point in the Championship. Disappointment also for Swiss driver Dario Cabanelas, who was leading the chasing pack before plunging to the bottom of the table!

Cut-throat duel in Race 2

As is traditional with the inverted grid, Race 2 gave rise to incessant clashes. The suspense lasted until the end for the podium. Colombian Jeronimo Berrio immediately got the better of Japan’s Yuto Nomura and widened the gap. Swiss driver Dario Cabanelas set the fastest lap in the race and chased down the leader, while Nomura dropped down the order. Cabanelas eventually caught up with Berrio, but was unable to overtake him despite numerous attempts. The intense duel between the two drivers allowed Elliott Vayron to make the connection, with Louis Pelet and Hugh Barter just behind. Vayron tried his luck in the last corner, catching Cabanelas by surprise.

Forced to overshoot the track, the Swiss driver was given a five-second penalty and fell to 5th behind Barter, who had climbed from 8th. On the podium, the Colombian anthem rang out for the first time this season thanks to Berrio, the winner ahead of Vayron and Pelet. Alessandro Giusti gained four places and finished 6th ahead of Yuto Nomura, Enzo Peugeot, Souta Arao and Pablo Sarrazin, who was hoping for more after having been in the top five at the beginning of the race.

> Race 1 ranking
1 Souta Arao (Japan) with 11 laps
2 Alessandro Giusti (France) at 0″298
3 Pierre-Alexandre Provost (France) at 5″854
4 Enzo Peugeot (France) at 6″175
5 Louis Pelet (France) at 7″591
6 Jeronimo Berrio (Colombia) at 9″488
7 Romain Andriolo (France) at 14″929
8 Elliott Vayron (France) at 18″176
9 Yuto Nomura (Japan) at 18″187
10 Max Reis (Germany) at 22″168
11 Pablo Sarrazin (France) at 22″526
12 Lorens Lecertua (Belgium) at 23″078
13 Edgar Pierre (France) at 24″009
14 Enzo Richer (France) at 25″303
15 Enzo Geraci (France) at 25″968
16 Leny Réveillère (France) at 31″692
17 Garrett Berry (USA) at 34″837
18 Luciano Morano (FRA) at 35″695
19 Dario Cabanelas (Switzerland) at 39″613
20 Pol Lopez Gutierrez (Andorra) at 45″530
21 Antoine Fernande (France) at 51″013
22 Mateo Villagomez (Ecuador) at 1 lap
23 Hugh Barter (Australia) at 8 laps
24 Valentino Mini (Panama) at 8 laps
FL: Alessandro Giusti (France) in 2’07″506 (avg. 164,3 km/h)

> Race 2 ranking
1 Jeronimo Berrio (Colombia) with 11 laps
2 Elliott Vayron (France) at 1″022
3 Louis Pelet (France) at 1″204
4 Hugh Barter (Australia) at 1″746
5 Dario Cabanelas (Switzerland) at 5″859
6 Alessandro Giusti (France) at 7″685
7 Yuto Nomura (Japan) at 8″887
8 Enzo Peugeot (France) at 9″658
9 Souta Arao (Japan) at 15″405
10 Pablo Sarrazin (France) at 18″017
11 Pierre-Alexandre Provost (France) at 18″627
12 Edgar Pierre (France) at 19″540
13 Romain Andriolo (France) at 23″387
14 Enzo Richer (France) at 23″687
15 Mateo Villagomez (Ecuador) at 27″527
16 Pol Lopez Gutierrez (Andorra) at 27″818
17 Enzo Geraci (France) at 32″736
18 Leny Réveillère (France) at 34″198
19 Luciano Morano (FRA) at 38″212
20 Garrett Berry (USA) at 41″504
21 Antoine Fernande (France) at 1’20″008
22 Valentino Mini (Panama) at 5 laps
23 Lorens Lecertua (Belgium) at 9 laps
24 Max Reis (Germany) at 11 laps
FL : Dario Cabanelas (Switzerland) in 2’07″956 (avg. 163,8 km/h)

Race 3

Assured of the title of French F4 Champion since the day before, Giusti was keen to finish his season with a success. Imperial in Race 3, he achieved his objective. Souta and Barter accompanied him on the race podium as well as on the Championship podium.

The weather remained mild and the track dry for the very last race of this exciting 2022 season. Perfectly orchestrated by the FFSA Academy, the French F4 Championship kept all its promises up to this 7th and last race held on the Paul Ricard circuit. The hierarchy that has emerged over the year was fairly well respected in Race 3. The top three in the final championship standings found themselves on this last podium, albeit in no particular order for the 2nd and 3rd places. Alessandro Giusti started from pole position and led from start to finish, keeping Japan's Arao Souta behind him, even though he set the fastest lap. Australian Hugh Barter, who started third, lost two places at the start, but managed to recover his position to complete the podium and above all save his place as runner-up to Arao in the 2022 Championship.

"After winning the F4 Junior Championship in 2021, becoming French F4 Champion was clearly my goal for the season," commented Alessandro Giusti. "On Saturday, I felt a great joy when I got out of the car, even if I was a little disappointed not to have won. I was on pole position in Race 1, but Souta started better than me and I didn't want to take any risk when I saw that Hugh wasn't behind me. The title was the most important thing! Today I was able to let myself go, I really wanted to finish with a win. I'm very happy with my performance at the end of the season, it showed my ability to sign pole positions and win."

Giusti-Arao-Barter, the infernal trio

If Race 3 was clear at the front for Frenchman Alessandro Giusti and Japanese Souta Arao, drivers like Hugh Barter, Enzo Peugeot, Enzo Geraci, Edgar Pierre and Belgian Lorens Lecertua did not fail to animate the chasing group during their comeback. After a contact, Barter was passed by Pierre-Alexandre Provost and Elliott Vayron. Quickly back in 4th position, he had to work hard to get back to Provost who had increased the gap. He finally made the connection at the very end of the race. In spite of Provost's fierce resistance, Barter managed to make the difference by a very narrow margin (one tenth). Enzo Peugeot, who started in 10th position, showed his fighting spirit by moving up to 6th place, to finish not far from Vayron. In the last lap, Swiss rider Dario Cabanelas dropped down in the hierarchy after a collision with Colombian rider Jeronimo Berrio, who was penalised by 30 seconds.

Enzo Geraci, who started 14th, finished his superb progression in 8th position in the wake of Louis Pelet, who was also excellent. The last points to be distributed went to Edgar Pierre and Lorens Lecertua, who gained 7 and 9 places respectively! The Japanese rider Yuto Nomura failed to finish in the top-10, leading a group of riders behind him, composed of the Ecuadorian Mateo Villagomez, Enzo Richer, the Panamanian Valentino Mini and Leny Réveillère, who improved by 7 places. A contact shortly after the halfway point caused Pablo Sarrazin to fall to 20th position behind Luciano Morano and Antoine Fernande. After a pit stop for a repair, German Max Reis had to settle for 21st position. Romain Andriolo and Andorran Pol Lopez Gutierrez were disappointed to end their season with a retirement, while American Garrett Berry had an interesting experience on his F4 Academy debut.

> Race 3 standings
1 Alessandro Giusti (France) with 11 laps
2 Souta Arao (Japan) at 2"725
3 Hugh Barter (Australia) at 9"229
4 Pierre-Alexandre Provost (France) at 9"331
5 Elliott Vayron (France) at 15"846
6 Enzo Peugeot (France) at 17"423
7 Louis Pelet (France) at 20"782
8 Enzo Geraci (France) at 20"905
9 Edgar Pierre (France) at 21"559
10 Lorens Lecertua (Belgium) at 25"207
11 Yuto Nomura (Japan) at 28"973
12 Mateo Villagomez (Ecuador) at 29"926
13 Enzo Richer (France) at 30"514
14 Valentino Mini (Panama) at 30"985
15 Leny Réveillère (France) at 31"370
16 Dario Cabanelas (Switzerland) at 34"774
17 Jeronimo Berrio (Colombia) at 55"309
18 Luciano Morano (FRA) at 1'07"826
19 Antoine Fernande (France) at 1'08"083
20 Pablo Sarrazin (France) at 1'45"179
21 Max Reis (Germany) at 1 lap
22 Garrett Berry (USA) at 3 laps
23 Romain Andriolo (France) at 3 laps
24 Pol Lopez Gutierrez (Andorra) at 8 laps
MT: Souta Arao (Japan) in 2'07"886 (avg. 163.8 km/h)

> French F4 FIA Championship (final after the 7th round at Paul Ricard)

1 Giusti (FRA) 300 pts, 2 Barter (AUS) 241 pts, 3 Arao (JAP) 227 pts, 4 Vayron (FRA) 202 pts, 5 Peugeot (FRA) 149 pts, 6 Berrio (COL) 103 pts, 7 Nomura (JAP) 100 pts, 8 Provost (FRA) 95 pts, 9 Cabanelas (SUI) 90 pts, 10 Andriolo (FRA) 74 pts, 11 Pelet (FRA) 66 pts 12 Lecertua (BEL) 51 pts, 13 Pierre (FRA) 50 pts, 14 Geraci (FRA) 44 pts, 15 Reis (GER) 24 pts, 16 Villagomez (ECU) 11 pts, 17 Richer (FRA) 8 pts, 18 Sarrazin (FRA) 7 pts, 19 Réveillère (FRA) 3 pts, 20 Mini (PAN) 2 pts, 21 Lopez Gutierrez (AND) 1 pt.

Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in Barcelona

Race 1

Prema Racing’s driver Paul Aron scored the fastest time in the first Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine qualifying at Barcelona, and claimed race one pole position in an extraordinarily close session, which was held with all the cars on the track due to the fog.

Because of the weather conditions, a single 15-minute round was held, with 0.8 seconds separating the top-26. Aron’s pole lap of 1m40.774s came with just over a couple of seconds remaining, and while a number of drivers made improvements, none was able to beat the performance of the Estonian driver.

Behind the Prema Racing driver set the second best time Dilano Van’t Hoff, who achieved his best qualifying time of the year here in Spain. MP Motorsport’s standard bearer finished the session a little more than a tenth from pole and ahead of Eduardo Barrichello, with the Brazilian being with the protagonists of the turn.

Starting from the second row alongside the Arden driver will be Victor Bernier (FA Racing) who did well once again getting the fourth best time as well as being the fastest on Friday’s test day.

Hadrien David (R-ace GP) will start from the third row alongside Joshua Dufek (Van Amersfoort Racing), while Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident Motorsport) will share the fourth row of the grid with Sebastian Montoya (Prema Racing). Kas Haverkort (Van Amersfoort Racing), who topped the lead in final part of the session and Lorenzo Fluxa (R-ace Gp) completed top 10. The local driver was ahead of the overall leader Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing), 11th ahead of Roman Bilinski (Trident Motorsport) and the other title contender Gabriele Minì (ART Grand Prix).

Paul Aron‘s victory was won by keeping the lead from start to finish. After signing the pole position this morning, he climbed on the top step of the podium for the fifth time this year at the wheel of  Prema Racing team’s car number 3.

In Barcelona, the Estonian won the first race of the penultimate round of the season of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, which saw Hadrien David (R-ace GP) taking the second place. The French driver, good at moving up the ladder after starting from fifth place, deployed a perfect strategy that brought him into the leader’s mirrors at the finish line, where they arrived with a just-over-a-tenth gap.

First points of the season also for Dilano Van’t Hoff, author of an excellent qualifying that allowed him to start from the front row next to Aron. MP Motorsport‘s standard bearer put in all his determination, being thus able to face the numerous duels that took place behind him. These included Kas Haverkort‘s (Van Amersfoort Racing) excellent performance: he was protagonist of a fine comeback lap after lap, climbing from ninth place on the grid to end the hostilities close to the podium in the final stages. The same was done by Gabriele Minì (ART Grand Prix), thirteenth at the light in which he was the protagonist of an excellent start, immediately moving into the top 10. A move that relaunched the race for the Sicilian driver (5th), who remains in the game for the title along with Aron, since championship leader Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing) gained no points with the 11th position.

Eduardo Barrichello (Arden Motorsport) did well as well, who after the podium at Spa has definitely changed pace, always earning points in the following races. In today’s race the Brazilian driver, after battling for the podium for good part of the race, finished sixth ahead of compatriot Gabriel Bortoleto (R-ace GP) given the penalty imposed on the best rookie of the day Joshua Dufek (Van Amersfoort Racing) who lost one position for not respecting the track limits.

Rounding out the top 10 were Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident Motorsport) and Joshua Durksen (Van Amersfoort Racing).

“After some bad luck I’m really happy to be back at winning,” Aron said, “We started with the right pace dominating qualifying, but in the race it wasn’t easy. I managed the lead the best I could, but tomorrow we will have to work hard to improve our race pace seeing how David came up in the final. I think we have all the tools to repeat today’s performance.”

“Today’s race was great,” said David, “I was able to get a good start by moving up from the third row to fourth place on the first lap. I managed the tires at the beginning of the race until I was given the signal over the radio to push and so I did. I was able to pass Eduardo and then Dilano until I got behind Paul. I feel a slight disappointment because I think we had the potential to be able to win, but Paul was really fast today.”

“Finally a good result has come this year,” said Van’t Hoff, “After the injury it’s nice to get on the podium which gives us the right ambitions to finish the season the best we can. I am confident for tomorrow’s race, although we will have to deal with another qualifying first. Either way we will do our best.”

Race 2

Gabriel Bortoleto claimed his first pole position in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in Barcelona right on the weekend of his birthday. The R-ace GP‘s Brazilian driver set the fastest time of 1m40.532s in the Group B session, only 0.156s ahead of his teammate Hadrien David. The Frenchman finished yesterday’s race with a second place and will start from the second row of the grid in Race 2.

Pierre-Louis Chovet topped the Group A, securing the first row for this afternoon’s race in 1m40.599s. The RPM standard bearer was 0.035s faster than Race 1 winner Paul Aron (Prema Racing) who showed once again that he has a very good pace on the Spanish track.

After showing an excellent performance, Owen Tangavelou (RPM) will start from the third row alongside Kas Haverkort (Van Amersfoort Racing). Joshua Durksen (Arden) will share the fourth row of the grid with Victor Bernier (FA Racing), who is seeking redemption after yesterday’s retirement for a technical issue on his car while he was fighting for the top 10.

The top ten is completed by the two title contenders Gabriele Minì (ART Grand Prix) and Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing).

“Getting my first pole on my birthday weekend was fantastic – said Bortoleto – I had been close to it at Paul Ricard, but this time we managed to put it all together thanks to the great work done by the whole team.”

Gabriel Bortoleto was the undisputed star of the second Spanish round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, going for a fine victory after taking his first pole position this morning.

On the weekend of his birthday, the ace of R-ace GP celebrated his second success of the season after the one obtained at Spa Francorchamps, giving the transalpine team a nice double win thanks to the second place conquered by Hadrien David. The young French driver, author of a flawlessly driven race, took home his second silver medal of the weekend, thus narrowing the gap in the standings between himself and Paul Aron (Prema Racing).

The latter, after dominating yesterday’s race in which he took pole position and victory, today managed to keep fourth position behind a very fast Pierre-Louis Chovet, who climbed onto the lowest step of the podium at the wheel of the car fielded by the RPM team.

Kas Haverkort (Van Amersfoort Racing) did well, finishing fifth under the chequered flag despite the contact with Owen Tangavelou (RPM) at the start of the race, which caused the Frenchman to retire and called for the entry of the first safety car. First victory in the rookie group for Joshua Durksen (Arden Motorsport), who finished ahead of Gabriele Minì. The Italian driver of the ART Grand Prix team, with the seventh place, remained in contention for the title with Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing), who finished tenth in Race 2, being in the limelight at the end of the race for a contact with Victor Bernier (FA Racing). Bernier ended up out of the game while attempting to enter the top 10 and forced the second entry of the safety car, which remained on track until the end of the race.

Completing the top 10 ahead of championship leader Beganovic, who was nevertheless able to celebrate the team title won by the Prema Racing team this afternoon, were Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident Motorsport) and Lorenzo Fluxa (R-ace GP), eighth and ninth respectively.

“It was a great weekend for me,” Bortoleto said. “We did a very good qualifying session, but we kept our heads down and concentrated hard to achieve today’s result. Obviously, today’s official session was decisive for my race, where I made a good start and managed to keep a good pace. Hadrien was very fast behind me, and I had to be careful not to make any mistakes. It really couldn’t have gone any better than that.”

“The team is doing a great job and today’s podium is proof of that,” said David. “I tried to pass Gabriel, then the safety car came in. Anyway, he was really fast today. We are aiming for second place in the overall standings, which will be decided at Mugello.”

“It’s nice to be on the podium once again,” Chovet said. “After the one gained at the Red Bull Ring, we managed to do well here in Spain too, thanks to an excellent qualifying and the great work done by the whole team.”

The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine will be back in action already next week at the Mugello circuit on the weekend of 21-23 October.

Next and final round will be held in Mugello 21-23/10/2022

ADAC Formula 4 at the Nürburgring

Race 1 & 2

•        Antonelli wraps up the title ahead of the final race of the season on Sunday

•        Nine wins this season form the basis for his success

•        Prema Racing wins the Team championship

Nürburg. ADAC Formula 4 has its champion: Andrea Kimi Antonelli (16/Prema Racing) was crowned champion of the 2022 season with races to spare, following victory in race 17 at the Nürburgring. “Absolutely unbelievable! It feels awesome to be ADAC Formula 4 champion. When I crossed the finish line, I screamed in elation down the team radio. That was an emotional moment. I will now enjoy the success and take everything in,” said the Italian. At the same time, the Mercedes Junior also celebrated winning the Team championship with Prema Racing. Behind the nine-time race winner, Taylor Barnard (18/GBR/PHM Racing) and McLaren Junior Ugo Ugochukwu (15/USA/Prema Racing) ended the season in second and third place.

Spectators at the ADAC Racing Weekend in the Eifel were treated to an entertaining opening race on Saturday morning. Under a cloudy sky and with temperatures around 12 degrees Celsius, the drivers lined up with wet tyres on their 180-hp Formula 4 cars. Pole-sitter Camara defended his lead ahead of Antonelli on the wet track. However, a safety car phase neutralised the field on lap eight. Two laps later, Camara continued to set the pace and retained the lead at the restart. Antonelli then launched the decisive manoeuvre on the next lap of the 5.137-kilometre Grand Prix circuit: the Mercedes Junior battled it out with the youngster from the Ferrari Driver Academy for several corners, before eventually taking the lead. In doing so, championship leader took another step towards the title and crossed the finish line ahead of Camara. Australian James Wharton (16/Prema Racing) completed the podium. Fourth place for Barnard was enough to keep the title race alive. Ugochukwu came home fifth.

Camara started the afternoon’s second race from the front of the grid again. However, Antonelli produced a lightning-quick start in rainy conditions and led by the time he reached turn one. Antonelli coped best with the challenging conditions at the iconic circuit in the Eifel Mountains, and extended his lead in the eventful early stages of the race. Even a safety car phase towards the end of the race could not stop the new champion from claiming his second win in a row at the Nürburgring. “The grip on the wet track was not particularly good, but I still managed to make an excellent start. As the race progressed, I did not need to take any big risks and knew that I was on course to win the title. Despite that, I kept my concentration right through to the finish and took the chequered flag as champion,” said Antonelli, describing the race from his perspective. With 303 points to his name, he now holds an unassailable lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

Behind him, an exciting battle for the podium positions was developing. Barnard it was who climbed into second place and went on to finish runner-up. “I felt a contact with the car in the first turn, which caused some slight damage. That was not ideal for my race,” said Barnard, who also finished runner-up behind Antonelli in the championship. Ugochukwu finished third to secure his best result so far in only his fifth race in the ADAC’s high-speed school. This was also enough to earn him first place in the rookie standings. “The wet track conditions made the race pretty nerve-racking. However, I did not make any mistakes and am delighted with my first trophy in ADAC Formula 4,” said Ugochukwu. Finland’s Rasmus Joutsimies (Jenzer Motorsport) was fourth and scored valuable points for the Rookie competition. Ahead of the final race on Sunday afternoon, the 19-year-old leads Camara by seven points. Ferrari Driver Academy youngster Wharton completed the top five in the penultimate race of the season.

There were also big celebrations at Prema Racing, who won the Team championship. Ahead of Sunday’s final race, the Italian team is sitting pretty at the top of the table with an unassailable 561 points. The most successful team of the 2022 season boasts an impressive record: in total, Prema Racing claimed 12 victories with four different drivers, and also secured pole position on nine occasions. “As a collective, we did a very good job. For us as a team, this title is very important, as it brings us together even more tightly,” said Grazia Troncon, team manager at Prema Racing.

Race 3

•        Victory in the final race of the season for Taylor Barnard of PHM Racing

•        Rafael Camara is the top rookie in the 2022 ADAC Formula 4 season

•        Prema Racing wins all three competitions

Nürburg. Fifth win for Taylor Barnard: The Brit earned victory for himself and the PHM Racing team in the final race of this season’s ADAC Formula 4 at the Nürburgring on Sunday. The 18-year-old was followed home in second place by McLaren Junior Ugo Ugochukwu (USA/Prema Racing). Rafael Camara (17/BRA/Prema Racing) took third place in the 18th race of the season and won the Rookie title in the process. “I am overjoyed to be heading home with the trophy for the most successful rookie. That was not an easy race for me, as I had to fight my way forward from tenth on the grid. I never gave up and believed in myself,” said Camara.

It was Ugochukwu, in sixth place on the grid, who reacted fastest at the start of the race. In temperatures around 14 degrees Celsius and under overcast skies, he was fastest out of the blocks at the former Formula 1 circuit and took the lead after the first few corners. However, 15-year-old Ugochukwu could see Barnard closing in all the time in the rear-view mirror of his 180-hp car. Within a few corners, Barnard was up to fifth place. He then produced the race-winning overtake on lap five, before going on to take a commanding victory in the Eifel Mountains. “That is a great result to end the season on. I did not expect to win the reverse grid race – after all, I started from down in seventh. I simply held my line at the start and overtook a lot of drivers on the inside. The track was still wet in a few places, but I had good pace and did not have to take any massive risks,” said Barnard.

Second place was Ugochukwu’s best result so far in only his second race weekend in the ADAC’s talent factory. “The start was unbelievable and I was even able to pull clear of the field at first. I tried to hold off Taylor, but he was the faster driver today. I am very happy with second place. After all, the whole Nürburgring was unfamiliar territory to me,” said Ugochukwu. Spectators at the ADAC Racing Weekend were treated to an exciting race with many captivating battles on the 5.137-kilometre Grand Prix layout. Even coming into the closing stages of the race, Camara was still not guaranteed to end the season in first place in the Rookie competition. However, the most successful young driver of 2022 crossed the finish line third, ahead of team-mate James Wharton (16/AUS), to secure the title.

Nikita Bedrin (16/ITA/PHM Racing) was fifth, followed in sixth place by Andrea Kimi Antonelli (16/Prema Racing). The Italian had already been crowned ADAC Formula 4 champion on Saturday, courtesy of his brace of wins. Prema Racing was also confirmed as Team champion. The best-placed German was ADAC Stiftung Sport driver Valentin Kluss (15/Bad Mergentheim/PHM Racing) in seventh. Finland’s Rasmus Joutsimies (19/Jenzer Motorsport) came home eighth at the end of the 30-minute race. Michael Sauter (18/SUI/Sauter Engineering + Design) and Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi (16/Jenzer Motorsport) from Thailand completed the top ten.

The 2022 ADAC Formula 4 season featured six rounds at current and former Formula 1 circuits in Belgium (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps), Germany (Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, the Nürburgring twice, and the Lausitzring), and the Netherlands (Circuit Zandvoort). Antonelli is the most successful driver with nine victories to his name, and was also the fastest man in qualifying, securing seven pole positions over the course of the season. Antonelli was joined in the winners list by Barnard with five wins, as well as Camara, Laursen, Wharton and Bedrin, who each won one race.