Le Castellet - The opening race of the 2025 E4 Championship took place at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet. Thanks to a perfect start, Gabriel Gomez claimed the inaugural victory after starting from third on the grid. The US Racing ace jumped into the lead at Turn 1, taking advantage of the fierce battle between pole-sitter Kean Nakamura-Berta and Sebastian Wheldon. The two Prema Racing drivers went on to complete the podium behind the Brazilian. Nakamura-Berta, the Slovak-Japanese driver currently at the top of the Italian F.4 Championship, will have another strong opportunity to aim for the top step in Race 2, starting once again from pole. Gomez, meanwhile, will start from pole in Race 3.
Fourth place went to Kabir Anurag, Alpine Academy driver competing with US Racing. With the top three positions tightly packed, Anurag delivered an exciting performance amid the battles inside the top 10—first with Oleksandr Bondarev and Enea Frey, then with Reno Francot, who executed a strong comeback to slot in right behind him. It was the Dutchman from PHM Racing who eventually crossed the line in fifth, ahead of Bondarev. For the Ukrainian driver representing Prema Racing and part of the Williams Driver Academy, sixth place overall also secured him the win in the Rookie classification.
Seventh across the line was Andrija Kostic of US Racing, just ahead of Prema Racing’s Zenrui Chi from China. Both drivers staged impressive comebacks, having started from the tenth and twelfth position of the grid respectively. Polish driver Aleksandre Ruta, racing with Van Amersfoort Racing, finished ninth and, along with Chi, completed the Rookie podium. Rounding out the top 10 was another Rookie, Colombian driver Salim Hanna of Prema Racing. Hanna scored the final available point at the end of a thrilling race, which saw some of the most spectacular action unfold around the edges of the top 10.
Also among the protagonists in that part of the field were Dante Vinci of Van Amersfoort Racing and Bart Harrison of Jenzer Motorsport, who finished eleventh and twelfth respectively. British driver Emily Cotty ended up thirteenth overall after fighting for the points zone for most of the race, and for good parte of the race running in eleventh. She claimed victory in the Woman Trophy classification ahead of Californian Payton Westcott of Van Amersfoort Racing and Ginevra Panzeri of AKM Motorsport.
Noteworthy was the intense battle between Mercedes junior Alex Powell, driving for R-ace GP, and Enea Frey of Jenzer Motorsport. While contending for seventh place, the two came into contact as Powell attempted a move on the Swiss driver. The incident forced both to retire from the race. Also retiring were Romanian driver Luca Viisoreanu of Real Racing and Ary Bansal of US Racing. Another incident involved Ukrainian driver Oleksandr Savinkov of R-ace GP, who was forced to retire after a heated battle with Evan Michelini of AKM Motorsport.
Among the most exciting battles was the midfield scrap involving Ludovico Busso, the Sicilian driver of Viola Formula Racing, along with Savinkov and Salim Hanna, the latter of whom delivered a strong charge to the points. The fastest lap of the race was set by Sebastian Wheldon on lap 11, during his final push to challenge his teammate for second place, a move that ultimately did not come to fruition.
Gabriel Gomez: “It was a great race from start to finish. We started the day well in qualifying. I was third, but we could have taken pole. I didn’t get a completely clean lap, but the pace was there. The start was very strong, which is always the most important part. I managed to go from third to first by Turn 1, and from there it was a race of managing tyres and pace. I controlled the gap to Kean, who was always close, but near the end, I was able to open up a bit of space. The car was really quick, and I just had to bring it home. I want to thank my team a lot, everyone who worked for this. It’s only the first race, but it’s definitely a great way to start the championship, fighting at the front.”
Kean Nakamura-Berta: “I wouldn’t say my start was that bad, I’ll have to look at the data, but I just had no traction into Turn 1 or for the rest of the race. I think we made the most of what we had. The car didn’t feel bad in the corners, and I’m pretty happy with that. We’ll need to look at the data to understand where we’re losing time. It’s not the result we were aiming for, but P2 is still a good outcome. We just need to keep collecting points in this championship. I think it’s a good start.”
Sebastian Wheldon: “For me, the race was pretty much over after Turn 1. It’s really hard to overtake on this track. I didn’t get a great start and lost second place to Gomez, who got into the lead before the first corner. From that point on I was just managing the tyres, hoping something would happen up front.”
Emily Cotty: “It was a good race, the car felt really good throughout. We can definitely do better tomorrow, but I’m happy with the pace, the car, and the overall result. We were a few places short of the Rookie podium, we just need to keep pushing. I definitely think we have the pace to score points, we were running in P11 for most of the race. There was a bit of a drop-off at the end, but we can definitely fight for points.”
Track action at Circuit Paul Ricard will resume tomorrow for Round 1 of the E4 Championship. Race 2 will take place at 11:00 AM, followed by Race 3 at 5:25 PM on Sunday, 20 July.
All races will run for 30 minutes plus one lap and will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV (channel 228 on Sky and channel 52 on Tivùsat), streamed on live.acisport.it, and on the ACI Sport TV Facebook and YouTube channels. The English-language broadcast will also be available on the international platforms covering the E4 Championship and the official social media profiles of the series.