Hiyu Yamakoshi’s excellent results in the French F4 Championship, in which the young Japanese driver is regularly at the front of the field, are continuing. At each meeting, Hiyu shows great seriousness in his approach and involves himself fully in this competition which enables talent to be revealed, as all the drivers use the same car. The notion of teams does not exist, as the FFSA Academy, supported by the French federation, is responsible for preparing and maintaining the single-seaters.
The third of the seven 2023 events took place at the famous Grand Prix de Pau, which is run on an urban circuit laid out between the rails. Located at the foot of the Pyrenees, Pau is to F4 what Monaco is to F1! When they were still young hopefuls, Max Verstappen, Jean Alesi and Lewis Hamilton won this prestigious Grand Prix.
Unlike some of his rivals who have already had the opportunity to race in Pau, this was not the case for Hiyu Yamakoshi, who only had one Free Practice session to learn the circuit on Friday morning. The track was dry for that session, but the drivers had to use rain tyres for the afternoon Qualifying session. He gained confidence as the laps went by, setting the 2nd fastest time in his group and gaining his place in 3rd for Race 1 and 4th for Race 3.
In Race 1, run on slick tyres, Hiyu managed a magnificent clean sweep and climbed onto the third step of the podium, after finishing close to the leaders. Placed 8th on the starting grid for Race 2 under the reverse grid system for the top 10 in Qualifying, the Japanese driver was involved in a collision at the start. In the collision, his car was damaged and he had to retire.
Determined to finish on a high note, Hiyu Yamakoshi managed to maintain a very high pace at the start of Race 3, setting the fastest lap in the race. But the rain returned, forcing the race director to raise the red flag. The drivers returned to the pits to put on their rain tyres, before another restart a few minutes later. Despite another perfect performance, the Japanese driver did not manage to improve on his 4th place starting position. However, he scored some very important points in the provisional standings of the FIA-certified French F4 Championship, as he is now in 5th position, just a few points behind fourth. This is certainly very encouraging, a few weeks before the next round at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium.
Info Kartcom / Photo © KSP – Guillaume Veuve