Qualifying for the second round of the E4 Championship has concluded at Circuit Paul Ricard, setting the grids for all three races of the weekend. Already among the standout performers during the opening round, R-ace GP's Mercedes Junior Team driver Kenzo Craigie confirmed his excellent form by claiming all three pole positions on offer.
Craigie topped both qualifying sessions and also secured pole position for Race 3 thanks to his second-best lap time across the two sessions. Despite strong challenges from Alp Aksoy (Prema Racing) and Andy Consani (R-ace GP), who both briefly held provisional pole during Qualifying 2, Craigie responded in the closing stages to reclaim the top spot.
Kenzo Craigie: "I'm really happy. I can't thank the team enough for all the work they've been putting in. It's great to do it at the team's home track. We've put a lot of work into the setup over the past couple of weeks and it paid off today, so I'm really happy. We had a really strong Round 1 and left second in the Championship, so this is definitely going to help my championship charge. I can't wait."
In the opening session, it was the US Racing drivers who initially set the pace, with Luka Sammalisto, Oleksandr Savinkov, Noah Killion and Edward Robinson all spending time at the top of the timesheets. Later in the session, Prema Racing's Turkish driver Alp Aksoy moved into provisional pole position.
His time at the top lasted only a matter of seconds, however, as Craigie completed his lap and immediately moved ahead. The British driver then improved again on the following lap, setting the session's fastest time at 2’06.377. His second-best lap, a 2’06.384, also proved crucial in securing pole position for Race 3.
The final classification of Qualifying 1 saw Aksoy finish second, 0.259 seconds behind Craigie, followed by Prema Racing's Williams Driver Academy driver Oleksandr Bondarev at 0.272. Fellow Mercedes Junior Team driver Andy Consani placed fourth, just 0.274 seconds adrift.
Edward Robinson (US Racing) completed the top five at 0.477, ahead of championship leader Luka Sammalisto at 0.485.
The Finn now faces the prospect of losing valuable ground to title rival Craigie, who currently sits second in the standings.
Seventh was Oleksandr Savinkov (US Racing) at 0.505, followed by teammate Ludovico Busso in eighth at 0.531. Christian Costoya, representing the McLaren Driver Development Programme with Prema Racing, was ninth at 0.574, while R-ace GP's Philippe-Armand Karras rounded out the top ten at 0.581.
Ary Bansal (US Racing) finished eleventh at 0.601, ahead of teammates Noah Killion at 0.676 and Arjen Kraling at 0.686. Completing the top 15 and the points-paying positions on the grid were Alex Ruta (Van Amersfoort Racing) at 0.765 and Ferrari Driver Academy driver Niccolò Maccagnani (Prema Racing) at 0.813.
In the second qualifying session, one of the first notable lap times came from Ella Hakkinen, the McLaren-supported driver competing with Jenzer Motorsport. Early on, the timesheets saw an exchange of top positions between US Racing and Jenzer Motorsport drivers, with Noah Killion, Bader Al Sulaiti and Oleksandr Savinkov featuring prominently.
As the session progressed, the margins became increasingly tight. Aksoy once again moved into provisional pole before being displaced by the two Mercedes-backed R-ace GP drivers. The battle for pole eventually came down to Andy Consani and Kenzo Craigie, with just thousandths separating them.
Craigie ultimately prevailed with a 2’06.305, only 0.092 seconds faster than his teammate. Aksoy finished third at 0.254, ahead of Christian Costoya at 0.266 and Luka Sammalisto at 0.309.
Behind the Finn came teammates Edward Robinson (0.360) and Oleksandr Savinkov (0.375). Bondarev was eighth at 0.381, followed by Trident Motorsport's Swiss driver Florentin Hattemer at 0.415. Busso completed the top ten at 0.426, ahead of Australian driver Noah Killion at 0.504.
Ary Bansal finished twelfth at 0.523, followed by Philippe-Armand Karras at 0.697. Maccagnani was fourteenth at 0.704, with Kraling fifteenth at 0.717.
Consani will line up alongside Craigie on the front row for Race 3, whose grid is determined by each driver's second-best lap across the two qualifying sessions. Christian Costoya and Alp Aksoy will start from the second row, while Edward Robinson and Oleksandr Savinkov will share row three. Oleksandr Bondarev and Ludovico Busso complete the fourth row.
The next track action comes later today, Saturday 18 July, with Race 1 scheduled to start at 16:35. Race 2 and Race 3 will follow on Sunday 19 July at 11:00 and 17:25 respectively.
All races will be contested over 30 minutes plus one lap and will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV, streamed on the championship's official social media channels, and carried by the international network broadcasting the E4 Championship and Italian F4 around the world.
Results remain provisional pending the completion of technical and sporting checks.