The selections over, Thomas Bacle (24 years old), Kévin Bole-Besancon (21), Amaury Bonduel (15), Timothé Buret (18), Ben Creed (18), Simon Crochart (21), Rémy Deguffroy (18), Jules Gounon (18), Antoine Hubert (17), Tom Le Coq (18), Dylan Pereira (16), William Westerloppe (20) went head to head into the semi-final on the La Châtre circuit behind the wheels of Formula Renault 2.0 drawn in lots and calibrated with new tyres by the lead instructor, Joël de Miguel.
From the outset Anthoine Hubert proved to be fastest, ahead of Remy Deguffroy, Dylan Pereira, Simon Crochart, Tom Le Coq and Jules Gounon who the jury decided to qualify as his times were so close and his best timed lap so good. The drivers then chose their order of turn in line with their ranking, which put Remy Deguffroy first followed by Antoine Hubert, Dylan Pereira, Simon Crochart and Tom Le Coq.
For the final, all the drivers used the same single-seater equipped with new tyres warmed up by Enzo Guibbert, the 2012 champion. The best average over five laps would be the decider.
When the six candidates had finished their turn, the President, Philippe SINAULT, as well as the members of the jury Gilles GAIGNAULT (Autonews Info), Pierre GILBERT (Driving Evolution), Olivier LOMBARD (Driver), Nelson PANCIATICI (Alpine Driver) and Pierre RAGUES (Alpine Driver) unanimously declared Anthoine Hubert the winner.
With an average of 36’’066 Anthoine Hubert dominated the final ahead of Remy Deguffroy with 36’’619 followed by Dylan Pereira with 36’’673, Jules Gounon with 36’’745, Simon Crochart with 36’’805 and Tom Le Coq with 37’’039.
Memorable were the performances of Dylan Pereira and Simon Crochart who have no previous experience in motorsports, as well as those of all the other drivers who made determined efforts to the finish!
Once his victory confirmed, Anthoine HUBERT told us in confidence: “Of course I’m happy. The conditions weren’t the easiest, the track had changed since the semi-final. In this kind of competition you have to invest yourself completely, I went all out and I managed to get a very good average. In the car I had the right physical sensations and I could sense I wasn’t doing badly. Now I can think about next year and I would like to drive in Formula Renault’s Eurocup. As a matter of fact, I just got back from a test in Barcelona with Tech 1 where I finished second Rookie and ninth in the overall ranking of some 30 drivers. For a discovery day it went rather well. The team was satisfied as well. If I can get the budget together I would like to drive with Tech 1 in 2014.”
For Laurent FRADON, the Director of the EUROFORMULA School, Anthoine Hubert is a worthy champion: “I am of course very happy with this logical outcome seeing as Anthoine has dominated the selections from the start, and then the semi-final and the final. We are all happy, including Joel de Miguel our instructor, and our engineers, Jacques and Quentin, to have an outstanding winner. He should progress in 2014 in the Eurocup Formula Renault and be a credit to the La Châtre circuit and our Euroformula School.”
The final word comes from Philippe Sinault, President of the Jury: “His victory was obvious. I’m not at all surprised. Anthoine demonstrated very neat driving with excellent times as well. In the end, it paid off. My hat off to Laurent Fradon for keeping his Volant going. He deserves congratulations, even!”
Anthoine Hubert follows in the tracks of Paul Loup Chatin (2010), Simon Gachet (2011) and Enzo Guibbert (2012) and he will be awarded the €60,000 bursary as well as the RALF TECH WRX Steel Hybrid watch!
The date is now set for the final of the « VOLANT EUROFORMULA » 2014 with an important new option which should help the young drivers progress in the best possible conditions.
