At Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, host of the opening round of the E4 Championship, Sunday’s action began with Race 2, the first contest of the day. Reno Francot secured the win for PHM Racing at the end of a thrilling race packed with overtakes and changes at the front. Brazilian driver Gabriel Gomez finished second thanks to a bold late move on Kean Nakamura-Berta, managing to retain his championship lead after Saturday’s victory. Third place went to the Prema Racing driver, already a dominant figure in the Italian F4 Championship, who is now firmly among the front-runners in the E4 Championship as well.
At the start, pole sitter Kean Nakamura-Berta held the lead through the early laps but eventually succumbed to pressure from Gabriel Gomez, who had quickly taken second for US Racing at Francot’s expense. The PHM Racing driver stayed patient and struck at the right moment. First, he pulled off a decisive move on Gomez, then attacked and passed Nakamura-Berta before charging off into the distance, crossing the finish line with more than four seconds of margin. His breakaway was helped by the fierce battle behind him, where Gomez and Nakamura-Berta battled in a close fight. After running third for much of the race, Gomez found a late opportunity to move up to second. Thanks to his win in Race 1 and second place in Race 2, the Brazilian remains on top of the standings, with Nakamura-Berta close behind.
After his podium on Saturday, Sebastian Wheldon fought hard to repeat the result, challenging teammate Nakamura-Berta until the end, but never managing to get past. The American Prema Racing driver finished fourth. An excellent fifth place went to Kabir Anurag, flying the colours of US Racing with the signature pink livery of the Alpine Academy. He pulled off a brilliant double overtake on Maksimilian Popov (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Oleksandr Bondarev (Prema Racing), catching them mid-battle.
Popov finished sixth, ahead of Mercedes junior Alex Powell, racing for R-ace GP, who made the most of the hectic phase to overtake Bondarev. However, Powell received a 5-second time penalty for track limits during the battle with the Ukrainian, which dropped him to ninth. The young Ukrainian driver from the Williams Driver Academy, who had been a key protagonist in the early stages of the race by holding onto fifth place for a long time, had to settle for seventh at the flag — still enough to secure his second Rookie win of the weekend. The drop in performance in the closing stages highlighted tyre degradation, a critical factor on the French circuit, which is notoriously demanding in terms of wear. Tyre management once again proved decisive for all drivers, requiring a constant balance between preservation and performance.
Enea Frey, racing for Jenzer Motorsport, claimed eighth place, while his teammate Bart Harrison rounded out the top 10.
Reno Francot: “It’s a really nice feeling, of course, getting my first win in the E4 Championship. It was quite a good race. I messed up the start a bit and dropped to P3, but I just tried to manage my pace. Then I saw them battling ahead and waited to see if an opportunity would come. When it did, I passed for P2, and then I caught the leader really quickly and made a good move there too. From then on, I just pulled away. I knew the speed was there. I was really fast in free practice and qualifying, so I knew I could win the race, and I did it. I’m really happy for the team as well. I think it’s their first win in quite some time, and I’m really proud.”
Gabriel Gomez: “It was a really tough fight between the top three. I managed to get up to second straight away. In the first two or three laps, I was missing a bit of pace, but then it came back and I was the fastest on track at that moment. I caught Kean, who was leading, and we had a hard battle for a few laps. I overtook him, but then I lost a bit of time and Reno got past me. After that, I found a really strong rhythm again and had another great fight with Kean in the last four laps. He defended really well, but I found a gap and managed to take second. Honestly, I was aiming for the win because the pace was very strong. Now we’ll try again in Race 3!”
Kean Nakamura-Berta: “We maximised what we had. It was a really tough race. We had a good launch and held P1 for the first couple of laps. But to be honest, it was just a matter of time. We’re still trying to find a bit more pace, and it seems like we’re struggling a little. It’s a bit bittersweet. At least we finished on the podium, but it’s not exactly where we wanted to be.”
Oleksandr Bondarev: “Paul Ricard is quite a high-degradation track. Yesterday we struggled a bit from the start, and today we made some changes, but in the end the tyre disadvantage didn’t really help us. Still, we’re showing really good progress compared to previous races, and I’m quite happy with the work we’ve done as a team. Two rookie wins is definitely a good result. We’ll work to do even better in Race 3 this afternoon.”
To close the curtain on the opening weekend of the 2025 E4 Championship, only the grand finale remains. Race 3 will go green today, Sunday 20 July, at 5:25PM.
As with the previous races, it will last 30 minutes plus one lap and will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV (channel 228 Sky and channel 52 Tivůsat). The race will also be streamed live with Italian commentary by Guido Schittone on the ACI Sport Facebook page. The English-language broadcast, with commentary from Ian Salvestrin, will be available on the international channels covering the E4 Championship and on the official series social media accounts.