Photo: Auto Sport Academy
18-year-old Lasse Sorensen topped a French F4 qualifying session for the second time this season ahead of the series’ fifth round at Nogaro.
The championship leader took first in the timesheets around halfway into the session and ended up beating his nearest rival – Lotus junior Dorian Boccolacci – by more than two tenths of a second.
Having qualified 0.6s off the pace in third, Vladimir Atoev will go into Saturday in pursuit of his first podium in cars. Anglo-Swiss title contender Felix Hirsiger will join the Russian on the second row.
Mexican Patricio O’Ward and Frenchman Valentin Hasse-Clot took fifth and sixth respectively, followed by Russian driver Denis Bulatov.
Valentin Moineault qualified eighth, while multiple race-winner Joseph Mawson had to settle for ninth. The top ten was completed by Formula Renault 1.6 NEC regular Max Defourny.
The best times of the session determined the grid for race three, with the second-best times used for the grid of race one.
Sorensen and Boccolacci both maintain their top two positions, with Hirsiger, O’Ward, Hasse-Clot, Bulatov and Moineault lining up behind.
Swiss racer Paul Hokfelt will start eighth, followed by Mawson and Atoev.
Qualifying results
| Race 1 | Race 3 | ||||
| Pos. | Driver | Time | Pos. | Driver | Time |
| 1 | Lasse Sorensen | 1:29.904 | 1 | Lasse Sorensen | 1:29.870 |
| 2 | Dorian Boccolacci | 1:30.470 | 2 | Dorian Boccolacci | 1:30.072 |
| 3 | Felix Hirsiger | 1:30.540 | 3 | Vladimir Atoev | 1:30.492 |
| 4 | Patricio O’Ward | 1:30.585 | 4 | Felix Hirsiger | 1:30.524 |
| 5 | Valentin Hasse-Clot | 1:30.629 | 5 | Patricio O’Ward | 1:30.580 |
| 6 | Denis Bulatov | 1:30.732 | 6 | Valentin Hasse-Clot | 1:30.610 |
| 7 | Valentin Moineault | 1:30.791 | 7 | Denis Bulatov | 1:30.656 |
| 8 | Paul Hokfelt | 1:30.924 | 8 | Valentin Moineault | 1:30.711 |
| 9 | Joseph Mawson | 1:30.953 | 9 | Joseph Mawson | 1:30.741 |
| 10 | Vladimir Atoev | 1:31.068 | 10 | Max Defourny | 1:30.799 |
| 11 | Max Defourny | 1:31.125 | 11 | Paul Hokfelt | 1:30.864 |
| 12 | Niclas Nylund | 1:31.279 | 12 | Niclas Nylund | 1:30.967 |
| 13 | Bryan Elpitiya* | 1:31.295 | 13 | Bryan Elpitiya | 1:31.093 |
| 14 | Reuben Kressner | 1:31.461 | 14 | Amaury Richard | 1:31.301 |
| 15 | Amaury Richard | 1:31.569 | 15 | Reuben Kressner | 1:31.358 |
| 16 | Simo Laaksonen | 1:31.580 | 16 | Simo Laaksonen | 1:31.469 |
| 17 | Erwan Jule | 1:31.802 | 17 | Erwan Jule | 1:31.558 |
| 18 | Hugo Sugnot-Darniche | 1:31.897 | 18 | Hugo Sugnot-Darniche | 1:31.695 |
| 19 | Tom Soubiron | 1:32.017 | 19 | Tom Soubiron | 1:31.991 |
| 20 | Axel Matus | 1:32.089 | 20 | Joao Carvalho | 1:32.054 |
| 21 | Joao Carvalho | 1:32.238 | 21 | Axel Matus | 1:32.073 |
| 22 | Gjergj Haxhiu | 1:34.366 | 22 | Gjergj Haxhiu | 1:33.777 |
| 23 | Anouck Abadie | 1:44.016 | 23 | David Droux | 1:37.833 |
| 24 | David Droux | No Time | 24 | Anouck Abadie | 1:41.857 |
* – Bryan Elpitiya will lose four places on the grid of race one and is therefore set to start from P17