E4: Emily Cotty impresses with P13, rookie Ginevra Panzeri makes progress over Le Castellet weekend
- RACERS
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Emily Cotty, Payton Westcott and Ginevra Panzeri impressed in a fiercely competitive E4 Championship season opener at Le Castellet, with the former securing Women Trophy victories - Cotty claiming a strong P13 finish in the opening race, while Panzeri made commendable progress over the course of the weekend to score a top 20 in the final race.
Emily Cotty, Payton Westcott and Ginevra Panzeri impressed in a fiercely competitive E4 Championship season opener at Le Castellet, with the former securing Women Trophy victories - Cotty claiming a strong P13 finish in the opening race, while Panzeri made commendabe progress over the course of the weekend to score a top 20 in the final race.
The 2025 E4 Championship kicked off at Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France, a challenging and technical track that always proved a fitting venue for the season opener of Europe’s premier international junior F4 series. A host of top-level teams and drivers from Italian F4 made the step into the continental series, contributing to a highly competitive grid featuring some of the most promising young talents in the Formula 4 ranks.
Three female drivers featured in the first round: Emily Cotty, Payton Westcott and Ginevra Panzeri—each on their own developmental trajectory. Cotty, racing for R-ace GP, is contesting both the E4 and Italian F4 full-time in her rookie year. She arrived at Paul Ricard just a week after a heavy crash at Mugello in the Italian series but showed no signs of slowing down.
Westcott, also a rookie and a multiple class winner in the Italian F4 Woman Trophy, continued to gain experience, while Italy’s Ginevra Panzeri made her debut in the series with AKM Motorsport, returning to F4 machinery after two outings in the Formula Winter Series at Aragon and Barcelona at the start of the year.
In Friday’s opening practice, Emily Cotty quickly showed she meant business by placing 17th, suggesting top-15 potential. Payton Westcott ended FP1 in 21st with a 2:09.627, and Panzeri steadily reduced the gap as she adapted to the track. In FP2, Cotty remained in the top-20, while Westcott improved to a 2:08.412. Panzeri found over two seconds despite an accident that did not hamper her fighting spirit.
Cotty then delivered one of her best qualifying performances to date in Q1: she ran as high as P3 late in the session before ultimately qualifying 14th—just one second off pole-sitter Kean Nakamura-Berta. Westcott was 24th with a 2:08.278, and Panzeri qualified 29th in her first E4 qualifying session.
In Q2, Cotty remained consistent, setting a time just a tenth off her Q1 pace to qualify 21st. Panzeri found remarkable pace improvement with a 2:08.951 to secure 29th again, while Westcott took 28th.
Emily Cotty lined up P14 on the grid for Race 1, fourth among the rookies, with Westcott in P24 and Panzeri in P29. At the front, Gabriel Gomez jumped both Prema cars of Nakamura-Berta and Sebastian Wheldon at the start to take the lead. Cotty held position while Westcott had a strong launch, gaining three places by the end of lap 1. Panzeri overtook Abdullah Kamel but lost the place back before finishing the lap closely behind.
Cotty was soon engaged in a battle with her R-ace GP teammate Guy Albag, reclaiming her position and setting consistent 2:09.1 lap times as she aimed for the top 10. A lap 3 incident between Enea Frey and Alex Powell promoted Cotty to 11th, placing her in a close fight with Dante Vinci for a place inside the top ten.
Meanwhile, Westcott reached P20 before a spin at the final corner dropped her down the order. Panzeri took advantage of the incident, cleanly moving up to P25. Cotty’s consistent 2:08.4 pace kept her close to the front runners and eventually helped her fend off Salim Hanna—until the Prema driver made a move stick with 14 minutes to go, dropping Cotty to 12th.
Westcott, recovering from her earlier spin, caught and passed Panzeri, reclaiming second in the Woman Trophy and moving into P23 overall. Both drivers then passed Al Sulaiti and the pitting Savinkov, moving up to P22 and P23 respectively.
Cotty clocked her best lap of the race with a 2:08.253 but lost a spot to Bart Harrison in the final laps to finish 13th—still her best finish to date and top among R-ace GP drivers.
Payton Westcott recovered well to take P21, while Panzeri had a clean and determined drive to finish P22, gaining seven positions.
The second race saw Cotty start from P21, Westcott from P28, and Panzeri again from P29. All three had clean starts, with Cotty moving into P20, Westcott climbing to P26, and Panzeri up to P27.
Cotty engaged in battles with Ruta and Michelini, maintaining strong pace around the 2:09s. Westcott was aggressive early on, making up places and clocking a new personal best of 2:09.6 as she chased down Abdullah Kamel. Panzeri also showed consistent improvements, running in the 2:09s and keeping up with the midfield.
Chi and Rodriguez ran into trouble midway through the race, allowing both Westcott and Panzeri to move up the order. The VAR driver closed the gap to Kamel to under a second in the final laps and finished P22, gaining six places.
Cotty couldn't eventually find a way past Michelini for 20th on track but was later promoted to P20 after a penalty, securing another strong result and the win in the Woman Trophy. AKM Motirsport's Ginevra Panzeri ended a clean and consistent race in 25th, showing steady progress throughout.
The final race of the weekend had Cotty starting 19th, Westcott 26th, and Panzeri 29th. Cotty gained a spot early but was caught up in an incident shortly after and retired at Turn 7, unfortunately ending an otherwise really positive weekend.
Payton Westcott, however, had her best drive of the weekend. She made rapid progress in the opening laps, reaching P20 by lap 2. As others faltered, she continued to gain ground and held off pressure from Michelini and Rodriguez in the closing stages, consistently lapping in the 2:09.1–2:09.2 range.
Panzeri showed excellent racecraft as well, avoiding trouble and gaining positions with clean overtakes. She moved up to P20 by the end, clocking consistent laps in the low 2:09s and staying in close contention with the pack.
A late collision between Popov and Viisoreanu promoted Westcott to P18, and a post-race penalty elevated her to a weekend-best P16—securing her first Woman Trophy class victory in the E4 Championship. Panzeri’s top-20 finish and second place in the class rounded out a very positive debut.
After the race, Panzeri reflected on the weekend: “We started with free practice, and I had an accident in FP2. Then in qualifying, Q1 wasn't great, but Q2 was already better and I set my personal best lap,” she said.
“In Race 1 it didn't go so well—I could have done better—even in Race 2. But in Race 3 I pushed harder and improved a lot. I'm satisfied with the progress, but obviously, much more needs to be done."
The E4 Championship will return for Round 2 at Mugello from September 12–14. Before that, both Emily Cotty and Payton Westcott will be back in action in Italian F4 at Imola on August 1–3.
