Munoz impresses again at Castellet, Giaccardi also tested with ART

Tuesday and Wednesday were once again dedicated to testing, this time at the Paul Ricard circuit. A month after the initial test runs in F3FRECA, F4, and even Eurocup-3 for some drivers shortly before tackling the legendary Macau race, new faces appeared this week at Le Castellet for more testing sessions. Among the drivers present, Alexandre Munoz, the French F4 champion, did not disappoint after his first performance in November.

Already leading the pack among the drivers tested by ART Grand Prix at Spa – his counterparts being Gabriel Gomez, runner-up in the Italian F4 championship, and Singaporean Kabir Anurag – the Frenchman repeated his performance. This time tested alongside Kabir Anurag and Matteo Giaccardi, Alexandre Munoz once again distinguished himself by setting the fastest lap times on identical cars.

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Munoz is on familiar terms with the F4 Italy benchmarks

The first ART driver, despite his only experience with the car being limited to testing at Spa in November, the Ariège native was even able to challenge the Prema drivers. Indeed, while several iconic FRECA teams, including Trident and R-ace GP, were present, Alexandre Munoz consistently finished in the overall top 3 during the sessions.

Third-best performer on a wet track on Wednesday, his position was relatively similar on a dry track, suggesting a versatility already seen during the 2025 French F4 season. Faster than Kean Nakamura-Berta – the reigning Italian F4 champion – at the end of the session in the torrential rain at Le Castellet, the Frenchman was only beaten by the Italian Emanuele Olivieri in these tricky conditions.

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Alongside him was Monaco's Matteo Giaccardi – 11^e F4 France – having completed its first laps with ART Grand Prix during these tests – could see the first FFSA Academy entries soon for the 2026 FREC season. It's also worth noting that these tests are being conducted on the current versions of the cars competing in FRECA until this year. The 2026 pre-season tests will then be the first to run the new version presented by Tatuus to the new drivers on the grid.