Third in the rain and second in the dry, Frank Porte Ruiz was fast and efficient in all conditions at the fourth round of the French F4 Championship. The Andorran driver proved that his level of performance since the start of the season and his victory at Lédenon were not the result of luck, but were in fact due to a talent which continues to reveal itself.
Frank Porte Ruiz’s best weekend since his single-seater debut in early 2023 began with a brilliant result in Qualifying. ‘From the very first tests on this Nürburgring circuit, I felt that I was capable of moving up the order,’ admitted Frank. ‘I really enjoyed this track, which is far from easy, but I had prepared well in the simulator. I was able to confirm that with the 2nd fastest time in Qualifying. Even so, I was hampered at a time when the tyre grip seemed to be even more effective. Maybe pole position was a possibility! But I was happy to start from the front row in Race 1.’
The slick tyres used on Friday were replaced by rain tyres due to a particularly wet day on Saturday. ‘The track was very slippery! Right from the start, a driver pushed me and I lost five positions. After that, I had a good pace and I was able to come back to 3rd position. I was very happy after that podium, because I proved that I’d really improved in the rain.’
Frank Porte Ruiz started 9th in Race 2 in the afternoon on the reverse grid principle for the top-10 Qualifying session, but had to deal with very worn wet tyres. ‘The grip was really poor and it wasn’t easy to keep the car on the track. In Race 2, only the top eight score points. When I saw that it was becoming difficult to get into the top eight, I didn’t take any risks and brought my car to the finish in 10th position.’
However, the Andorran driver was determined to continue picking up points and podiums in Race 3, and made an excellent start, immediately moving up from 3rd to 2nd place. ‘The safety car quickly came onto the track because of an incident in the pack. On the restart, the leader surprised me by accelerating very early on, which gave him a small lead. Over the next few laps, I was quicker than him and I started to come back, but the tyres started to overheat. The gap then stabilised and it was in 2nd position that I crossed the finish line.’
‘I’m taking an extremely positive view of the race in Germany. I showed that I could compete with the best, and in fact I beat several of them at the Nürburgring. In total, I scored 33 points, which is my best result in F4 at the moment. I’m back up to 6th in the Championship, but I don’t want to stop there and I intend to make the most of the next few weeks to prepare for the fifth round of the season, with a return to France at the end of August on the Magny-Cours circuit’.
Info Kartcom / Photo © Gruppe C