Kenzo Craigie is the new E4 Championship leader after securing two victories at Paul Ricard. The R-ace GP Mercedes Junior driver won both Sunday races after finishing third in Race 1, bringing his total to 138 points and moving ahead of Finland's Luka Sammalisto in the standings.
Race 3 proved particularly rewarding for Craigie, who converted his third pole position of the weekend into victory with an excellent start before controlling the race despite several interruptions during the most action-packed contest of the weekend.
Sammalisto (US Racing) recovered from ninth on the grid to fourth place and would have lost the championship lead regardless, but the gap between the two contenders increased significantly after the Finn damaged his front wing in the penultimate lap when he hit a kerb while battling Christian Costoya for a podium position. Sammalisto nevertheless remains second in the standings on 124 points, behind Craigie's 138.
Andy Consani claimed his second podium of the weekend, finishing runner-up in front of his home crowd and completing an R-ace GP one-two. The Mercedes Junior driver enjoyed his strongest weekend of the season so far and now heads to the Monza finale firmly in championship contention.
The same can be said for McLaren Driver Development Programme driver Christian Costoya. The Prema Racing Spaniard secured third place overall in Race 3 after already collecting two Rookie podiums during the weekend. Starting from third on the grid, Costoya featured in several exciting battles, first with Alp Aksoy in the opening laps and later with Sammalisto during the closing stages.
Ary Bansal (US Racing) produced another excellent recovery drive, climbing from the twelfth row on the grid to finish fourth ahead of Oleksandr Bondarev (Prema Racing). Sixth went to Oleksandr Savinkov (US Racing), ahead of Alp Aksoy (Prema Racing). The Turkish driver repeatedly challenged Costoya, first at the start and then after the Safety Car restart following an incident involving Bader Al Sulaiti (Jenzer Motorsport), Philippe-Armand Karras (R-ace GP) and Knud Nielsen (Real Racing). On that occasion Aksoy found the door closed, losing momentum and several positions to the cars behind. Nevertheless, after winning Race 1 and finishing second in Race 2, he leaves Paul Ricard as third in the championship on 112 points.
Edward Robinson (US Racing) finished eighth ahead of teammate Noah Killion. Alex Ruta (Van Amersfoort Racing) completed the top ten, followed by Jean-Paul Karras (R-ace GP) and Arjen Kraling (US Racing). The remaining points-paying positions went to Thomas Bearman (Van Amersfoort Racing), Niccolò Maccagnani (Prema Racing) and Florentin Hattemer (Trident Motorsport).
The race ended under Full Course Yellow conditions following a late incident involving Ella Hakkinen (Jenzer Motorsport) and Bernardo Bernoldi (Trident Motorsport). Victory in the Women's Trophy therefore went to Ginevra Panzeri, who claimed two wins from the three races held over the weekend.
Post-race penalties update: 5-second penalty for Costoya in Race 3 hands the podium to Ary Bansal
Post-race penalties reshape the Race 3 podium.
The Stewards have handed Christian Costoya (Prema Racing) a 5-second time penalty after the Race 3 finish. The Spaniard, who had initially crossed the line in third place, was penalised for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage. As a result, Costoya drops to sixth in the final classification. Ary Bansal is therefore promoted to third place, with Oleksandr Bondarev moving up to fourth and Oleksandr Savinkov to fifth. All other positions remain unchanged.
Further penalties have also been issued to other drivers, although these will be served as grid penalties at future E4 Championship events. Philippe-Armand Karras (R-ace GP) has received a 10-place grid penalty following the three-car incident involving Bader Al Sulaiti (Jenzer Motorsport) and Knud Nielsen (Real Racing). Bernardo Bernoldi (Trident Motorsport) has been handed a 6-place grid penalty after his collision with Ella Hakkinen (Jenzer Motorsport). Lyuboslav Ruykov (Trident Motorsport) will serve a 2-place grid penalty following contact with Georgiy Zasov (Prema Racing). Oscar Repetto (PHM Racing) has received a 4-place grid penalty for losing control of his car and colliding with Bader Al Sulaiti, plus an additional 10-place grid penalty for a separate collision involving Knud Nielsen.
The next and final round of the E4 Championship will take place at Monza from October 9-11. Meanwhile, the Italian F4 Championship returns to action next weekend at Mugello, from July 24-26, for its fourth round of the season.
Kenzo Craigie: "It's been one of those weekends. From FP we were really strong, then triple pole in qualifying and now two wins today after a third place yesterday. It was really good. The race started really well, and I have to thank the team, because we definitely showed our pace in both races today. I'm really happy and I can't thank everyone who's been supporting me enough. It's definitely great momentum to carry into the Italian F4 rounds and the final E4 round, where we're now leading the Championship. It's amazing."
Andy Consani: "A pretty good weekend. We struggled a bit with the speed, but the result wasn't too bad. Unfortunately I didn't get a win in the end, but the team did an amazing job with the car. I'm quite happy with the result. In Monza we'll try to win the Championship."
Christian Costoya: "We improved our pace a lot in qualifying. In the first race we were a bit unlucky, while in the second we made a few mistakes at the start. In Race 3 we finally put everything together. We defended quite well, managed to keep the position, and the race pace was actually really good."
STANDINGS