Souta Arao topped Qualifying in his Pau debut and took a brilliant French Academy F4 Race 3 victory
Written by Peter Clifford
3 min readPublished on
Souta Arao topped Qualifying in his Pau debut and the 16-year-old Japanese took a brilliant French Academy F4 Race 3 victory. Fellow Red Bull Junior Yuto Nomura was similarly quick around the demanding street circuit and qualified 5th but a heavy crash in Race 1 ended the weekend for the 16-year-old Japanese due to a damaged tub.
Arao was narrowly beaten out of victory thanks to an imperfect start in Race 1 but made up for that in Race 3 with a great start and victory starting from P2 in Nomura's absence on second best qualifying time.
Arao in soon at home in Pau
“I was able to drive as I imagined from the start because the simulator was very realistic in terms of corner angles and bumps, and I had done a lot of laps in the simulator.”
“In the qualifying session, I was stuck in traffic for most of the 25 minutes and could not make a good time, but on the last lap I was able to get clear and make a good time.”
“The most difficult part of the course were the turns 5 and 6. At first I couldn't see where to turn because I couldn't see the exit by the guardrail, but as the laps went by, I understood more and more and I was able to do them well during the qualifying session and I am glad that I got pole position.”
This weekend I had a good pace but I was not able to win the first race, and in the second race I made a mistake and I was hit and spun and had to retire.
“In the run before Qualifying, I was able to set the top time and was in good shape. However, I went off track while running in 3rd place in Race 1 and it was a DNF. It was a difficult weekend because the car was so damaged that we couldn't start in Races 2 and 3.”
“That is a big shame because by practicing the simulator, I was able to run well from the first session. The characteristics of the course were very similar and it was a very good practice. The course width is narrow. It was the first time to run the street circuit with the formula, so that was the most difficult.”
“I was in good shape from the practice, so I was able to challenge with confidence. However, I was stuck in traffic in Qualifying and couldn't get the time I wanted. I was able to get 5th place, but I wasn't satisfied with it.”
“The race development of Race 1 was good. From the start of 5th place to 4th place, the pace after that was good and I was able to move up to 3rd place. However, after that, I went off and it was a DNF. The car was so damaged that in Races 2 and 3 I could not start.”
Some good positives from the weekend though, I was able to overtake on this narrow circuit
