Souta Arao
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull
Junior Formula Series

Souta Arao gets a podium in French F4 at Lédenon

I put in the new tires I had left over, but I had no pace at all and could not fight
Written by Peter Clifford
3 min readPublished on
Japanese 16-year-old Red Bull Juniors Yuto Nomura and Souta Arao continue to learn their craft at in the FFSA French F4 Championship at Lédenon.

REPLAYS French F4 Ledenon 2022

Race 2
Race 3

Arao not pleased

“Although practice the day before was good, we could not get any results from the Qualifying.”
Souta Arao racing to the podium of French F4 - Ledenon 2022

Souta Arao racing to the podium of French F4 - Ledenon 2022

© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool

“In Race 1, I started 3rd and finished 3rd due to a penalty for the car in front of me. I had a good start but I didn't have the pace.”
“In Race 2, I got a good start and thought I could get on the podium, but there was contact and I was unable to score any points.”
Souta Arao racing French F4 in Ledenon 2022

Souta Arao racing French F4 in Ledenon 2022

© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool

“In Race 3, I put in the new tires I had left over, but I had no pace at all and could not fight. This event was my worst of the season.”
I will do my best again in Valencia and try to get a good result.
Souta Arao

Nomura frustrated

“I felt good in practice the day before, but I couldn't demonstrate my true ability from Qualifying and ended up in 8th place. I was very close to the 3rd place player, so it was very frustrating to end up in 8th place.”
“Race 1 I started 6th due to the former penalty, and moved up to 5th on the first lap. The pace wasn't bad and I was running in 5th place until the last two laps, but just before entering the final lap I was hit from behind and dropped to 7th place. I passed the checkered flag in 7th place, but due to penalties from the former two cars, the official result was 5th place.”
Yuto Nomura is ready to race French F4 in Ledenon

Yuto Nomura is ready to race French F4 in Ledenon

© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool

“Race 2 I started in 3rd place on a reverse grid from the top 10 Qualifying. I moved up to 2nd place on the first lap and was aiming for the top, but I was unable to catch up due to lack of pace in the first half of the race. As a result, I got the checkered flag in 5th place after starting from a position where I could aim for victory, so it was very frustrating.”
Yuto Nomura racing French F4 in Ledenon 2022

Yuto Nomura racing French F4 in Ledenon 2022

© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool

Race 3 I started 7th in order of second time in Qualifying. The start wasn't bad, but the positioning in the first corner was bad and I dropped one place. After that, the left rear was hit at the 3rd corner of the 2nd lap when I was in 8th place, and the suspension bent and I was forced to retire.”
I couldn't get a good result from Qualifying this weekend, so I'll do my best to get a good result at the races in Valencia next week.
Yuto Nomura

Results Overview French F4 Lédenon

Qualifying

Race 1

Race 2

Race 3

1. A.Giusti +1m 21.478s

1. H. Barter 21m 35.303s

1. P.A. Provost 22m 23.546s

1. A. Giusti 21m 37.718s

2. H. Barter +0.026s

2. A. Giusti +0.822s

2. H. Barter +0.793s

2. H. Barter +1.320s

3. E. Pierre +0.364s

3. S. Arao +3.784s

3. E. Vayron +2.013s

3. D. Cabanelas +6.631s

5. S. Arao +0.497s

5. Y. Nomura +10.765 s

5. Y. Nomura +6.815s

7. S. Arao +13.894s

8. Y. Nomura +0.613s

15. S. Arao +42.684s

DNF (Incident) Y. Nomura

FFSA French F4 Championship after 15 of 21 races

Name

Points

1. H. Barter

218

2. A. Giusti

190

3. S. Arao

161

6. Y. Nomura

75

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