Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Alex Popow was unbeatable in United States Formula 4’s season finale at Barber Motorsports Park last weekend.

He topped both practice sessions, leading Clemente Huerta by 0.732 seconds, and in qualifying claimed pole by a massive 1.154s. The gap had been 1.142s, but Kekai Hauanio had his fastest laptime deleted for causing red flags so dropped to third, 0.03s behind Zach Fourie. Caleb Campbell was a further 0.085s back, and 0.003s ahead of Demitri Nolan.

Fourie spun down to last on race one’s formation lap, promoting Hauanio to second. But he lost the position on lap one to Campbell, as Fourie recovered two places.

Hauanio went down Campbell’s inside into turn one on lap two, was already losing sight of Popow by then and he pulled away to win by 11.59s.

Huerta began pressuring Campbell on lap five of 21, and on several laps looked to the inside at turn seven. He then spun to last on lap 13, freeing Huerta to hunt down Hauanio. With three laps to go he got on his tail, but did not attempt a move until he got alongside into the race’s penultimate corner.

Fourie made one overtake on lap two, went around Nolan’s outside at turn one on lap three, cleared Augusto Paschetta on lap four and profited from Campbell’s spin to finish fourth.

Popow set the fastest lap to claim pole for race two, which he won by 14.559s to take away the championship runner-up spot from Hauanio.

Campbell spun down from fourth to eighth exiting the race’s opening corner, and Hauanio overtook Huerta for second on lap one. Fourie was fourth, and stuck with the two drivers ahead.

Huerta attacked into turn nine on lap nine, then Fourie went around his outside at turn five a lap later and pressured Hauanio. Next time by Huerta reclaimed third into the turn five hairpin, and quickly forced Hauanio into defending.

On lap 15 he pounced into turn five, but Hauanio was back ahead by turn seven. Huerta dropped to fourth two laps later, and Fourie tried go around Hauanio’s outside at turn five on lap 18. After that the trio spread out.

Campbell spent 12 laps stuck behind Nolan until the latter overtook Luke Powers for fifth. He overtook him too into turn five on lap 16, then was on Nolan’s tail again through to the finish.

In the Ligier Junior Formula Championship for first-generation F4 cars, Drew Szuch topped qualifying by 0.114s over Cash Felber. Points leader Gaston Irazu was 0.257s off in third, and Beckham Jacir qualified fourth.

Irazu lost a place at the start of race one, and Felber went around the outside of Szuch at the penultimate corner which became the inside for the last corner and put him into the lead as lap two began. Irazu reclaimed third exiting turn three, and Ava Hanssen slipsteamed past Jacir too.

At turn five he went deep to get back ahead but spun as contact was made with Hanssen twice. A caution period was triggered, with the field released on lap four. Ronan Bray spun and got beached at turn two, with Irazu passing Szuch down the inside of turn five before another caution period began.

Racing resumed three laps later, and Szuch carried so much speed into turn one he ran off and rejoined with no room as he entered turn two. Irazu was pitched onto his left wheels and down to last, with Szuch continuing in seventh.

Felber led Pablo Benites and brother Roman Felber for the rest of the race, while Szuch gained back one spot and Irazu made it up to sixth behind him. But a five-second penalty for jumping the start demoted Irazu back down to eighth, and a 30s penalty for causing a collision relegated Szuch to 10th.

Hanssen, who was without a front wing, therefore finished seventh and Szuch’s penalty also meant Irazu became champion.

Roman Felber set the fastest lap and lined up on race two pole alongside his brother the next morning, but an issue struck his car at turn 12 on the formation lap and he headed to the pits, not joining the race until lap nine.

Puddles around the track meant wet weather tyres were used and there was lots of spray, and Cash led the field into the opening corner. William Rohan spun at turn five, and ended lap one eighth ahead of Hanssen, who was driving slowly due to car problems.

Jacir went down Felber’s inside at turn one on lap four then pulled away, and led by 13s when a caution period began on lap 14 of 16 due to Roman Felber spinning off at turn five. He got going again unassisted, but the race finished behind the pace car.

Irazu passed Dass for third on lap three, with Benites trying to follow him through but causing a crash. Dass went off and rejoined in eighth, but recovered to fifth after Benites was penalised 35s.

Rohan spun at turn five again and went off at turn seven on lap four, dropping to eighth himself, then charged up to fourth. He was over a minute behind Jacir before racing was neutralised.

Results round-up
Race 1 (21 laps)
1 Alex Popow MLT Motorsports 30m15.000s
2 Kekai Hauanio Crosslink Competition +11.590s
3 Clemente Huerta Kiwi Motorsport +12.116s
4 Zach Fourie Kiwi Motorsport +26.838s
5 Augusto Paschetta Scuderia Buell +31.368s
6 Luke Powers Toney Driver Development +32.604s
7 Demitri Nolan Crosslink Competition +52.693s
8 Oliver Savoie Kiwi Motorsport +53.942s
9 Jonathan Cottrill MLT Motorsports +1m05.701s
10 Caleb Campbell LC Racing Academy +1m19.512s
Pole: Popow, 1m25.420s
Fastest lap: Popow, 1m25.579s

Race 2 (21 laps)
1 Popow 30m31.437s
2 Hauanio +14.559s
3 Fourie +15.281s
4 Huerta +15.909s
5 Nolan +19.302s
6 Campbell +19.643s
7 Powers +26.605s
8 Cottrill +52.951s
9 Savoie +1m02.039s
Ret Paschetta
FL: Popow, 1m26.355s

Championship standings
1 Cooper Shipman 298.5   2 Popow 266   3 Hauanio 262.5   4 Huerta 155.5   5 Campbell 148   6 Nolan 126   7 Powers 67   8 Ty Arbogast 53.5   9 Savoie 38   10 Fourie 27

Ligier JFC
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Cash Felber Champagne Racing 29m16.000s
2 Pablo Benites Scuderia Buell +1.137s
3 Roman Felber Champagne Racing +1.502s
4 Beckham Jacir Champagne Racing +2.238s
5 Harbir Dass Berg Racing +3.201s
6 William Rohan Crosslink Competition +14.544s
7 Ava Hanssen Ava Hanssen Racing +16.675s
8 Gaston Irazu Champagne Racing +17.772s
9 Taisei Murakami Berg Racing +19.700s
10 Drew Szuch Berg Racing +39.993s
Pole: Szuch, 1m28.600s
Fastest lap: R Felber, 1m28.734s

Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Jacir 29m43.000s
2 C Felber +0.985s
3 Irazu +2.790s
4 Rohan +3.946s
5 Dass +4.678s
6 Szuch +5.134s
7 Ronan Bray Berg Racing +6.910s
8 Benites +38.210s
Ret Hanssen
Ret Murakami
FL: Jacir, 1m38.914s

Championship standings
1 Irazu 215   2 Szuch 182   3 C Felber 169.5   4 Dass 150.5   5 Daniel Cara 126.5   6 Jacir 116   7 R Felber 115   8 Max Mokarem 87   9 Benites 77   10 Hanssen 75

The post Popow does US F4 double as Irazu clinches Ligier JFC crown at Barber appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: US F4

United States Formula 4 champion Cooper Shipman will make an immediate step up to Formula Regional Americas this weekend.

The Kiwi Motorsport driver wrapped up the US F4 title last time out at Virginia International Raceway, and rather than remain in the support paddock for the finale at Barber Motorsports Park he will join the FRegional Americas grid.

It will be that championship’s final round too, and Shipman will be part of Kiwi’s line-up.

“Thank you to Kiwi Motorsport and the Chip Ganassi Racing driver development programme for believing in me and making the whole year possible,” said Shipman. “Excited to get on track and learn as much as possible in the new car.”

Earlier this month the 2026 FRegional Americas, US F4 and Ligier Junior Formula Championship calendars were released.

They will collectively host their pre-season testing at NOLA Motorsports Park on March 23/24, and kick off their seasons there on April 9-12 with three races each.

Another triple-header for all three follows at Road America (May 14-17), then in the next event at Mid-Ohio (June 11-14) only LFJC will pack three races into the schedule as the other two championships host double-headers.

FRegional Americas heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on its own a week later, with three races on its road course.

The three championships reunite for triple-headers at New Jersey Motorsports Park (July 31-August 2), before LJFC is left behind for the sole event in Canada. That takes place at Mosport on September 3-6, and is a triple-header for the two FIA-certified championships.

FRegional Americas raced exclusively in the USA from its creation in 2018 through to last year when Mosport first featured on the calendar. It appeared in the 2025 season too.

Double-header rounds at Virginia (September 17-20) and Barber (October 16-18) conclude 2026 for FRegional Americas, US F4 and LJFC.

The post US F4 champion Cooper Shipman steps up to FRegional Americas appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: US F4

Kiwi Motorsport’s Cooper Shipman became United States Formula 4 champion after winning both races at Virginia International Raceway on September 20/21.

Alex Popow pipped him to top spot in practice by 0.194 seconds, with Caleb Campbell 1.492s off the pace in third.

Shipman set the pace in qualifying by 0.519s over Popow, and Campbell stayed third but was now 1.687s behind. Kekai Hauanio and Demitri Nolan were marginally slower than him.

Shipman was unchallenged through race one. Hauanio squeezed into second on lap one, but Popow got back past at turn six on lap two. Shipman built a five-second lead before the pace car was called on lap 13 of 15 and the finishing order was all but settled.

Nolan and Clemente Huerta spent most of the race trading a very distant fifth place, and on lap 13 Huerta got past into turn one but spun out. Nolan was then penalised 30s for causing a collision, handing Oliver Savoie fifth.

Shipman’s fastest lap earned him race two pole, and Hauanio started lasted due to a parc ferme infringement. Campbell had an airborne incident by driving over the rear of Savoie’s car on the formation lap, so failed to start.

Hauanio ended up lining up sixth, but got a five-second penalty for weaving at the start, and dived down the inside into turn one for second place.

On lap two, Hauanio spun at turn 10 and Popow went off in avoidance. It promoted Luke Powers to second, but he trailed Shipman by 3.8s, and Hauanio ended the lap in fourth.

He reclaimed third as lap three began, but then Popow and Nolan overtook him on lap four. By the time Popow overtook Powers on lap six, Shipman was 10s clear and he continued to pull away for a dominant ninth win of 2025.

Powers held off Nolan until turn 14 on lap 10, then got back past and held off five more overtaking attempts until Nolan got him into Roller Coaster on the penultimate lap.

In the Ligier Junior Formula Championship for first-generation F4 cars, Harbir Dass was the practice pacesetter then Roman Felber was on top (and eighth overall) in qualifying before his laptimes were deleted due to a technical violation.

That made Drew Szuch fastest, with Alex Berg also losing all of his laps to a technical violation so Beckham Jacir was second on race one’s grid and 0.205s off pole. Three drivers copped grid penalties.

A standing start was used, and Jacir darted into the lead off the line. Szuch reclaimed first place in sector one, but Jacir passed again ending lap one.

A caution period began late in lap three due to Ronan Bray crashing out, and after racing resumed on lap six it was three-wide up front then the lead swapped hands repeatedly between Szuch and title rival Gaston Irazu. Felber got involved too, but when Szuch had an off under pressure it was Berg who emerged in second.

He pursued Irazu and took the lead into turn one on lap 11, but Szuch then led by Roller Coaster and held it thereon. Berg lost second to a 30s penalty for impeding, and Irazu had an off that dropped him to sixth before a five-second penalty for jumping the start then demoted him another spot.

Berg took pole for race two, which began with drama. Irazu sharged down the inside at turn one to take the lead, but was back to third by turn three and then spun by Szuch at turn four. Three other drivers piled into them, with one going airborne, and red flags waved.

Irazu was the only one not to retire and took the restart from last place. The field headed back out behind the pace car for a formation lap, then one race lap before green flags waved.

Jacir tried taking the lead from Berg then, and when Berg went wide at turn 12 it became a three-wide fight. Max Mokarem was briefly second before Berg reclaimed it, then returned to the lead at the end of lap four as Jacir served a drive-through penalty. Irazu also headed to the pits, to retire.

Felber took the lead in the esses on lap five, with Mokarem claiming second there on lap seven. Berg descended further, and retired in the pits at the end of the lap.

The top two positions were decided then, while Dass and Ava Hanssen traded third until the finish where Dass prevailed by 0.031s.

Results round-up
US F4
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Cooper Shipman Kiwi Motorsport 31m25.587s
2 Alex Popow MLT Motorsports +1.025s
3 Kekai Hauanio Crosslink Competition +1.672s
4 Caleb Campbell LC Racing Academy +2.190s
5 Oliver Savoie Kiwi Motorsport +3.484s
6 Luke Powers Toney Driver Development +3.864s
7 Jonathan Cottrill RASE Motorsports +4.747s
8 Demitri Nolan Crosslink Competition +32.830s
9 Clemente Huerta Kiwi Motorsport +3 laps
Pole: Shipman, 1m52.691s
Fastest lap: Shipman, 1m52.860s

Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Shipman 30m26.433s
2 Popow +15.453s
3 Nolan +28.648s
4 Powers +29.018s
5 Hauanio +51.103s
6 Savoie +1m58.017s
Ret Cottrill
DNS Campbell
DNS Huerta
FL: Shipman, 1m53.009s

Championship standings
1 Shipman 298.5   2 Hauanio 226.5   3 Popow 216   4 Campbell 139   5 Huerta 128.5   6 Nolan 110   7 Ty Arbogast 53.5   8 Powers 53   9 Savoie 32   10 Conor Grant 14

Ligier JFC
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Drew Szuch Berg Racing 31m01.273s
2 Roman Felber Champagne Racing +1.886s
3 Cash Felber Champagne Racing +4.747s
4 Max Mokarem Momentum Motorsports +4.787s
5 Harbir Dass Berg Racing +8.863s
6 Beckham Jacir LC Racing Academy +9.288s
7 Gaston Irazu Champagne Racing +12.808s
8 Ava Hanssen Ava Hanssen Racing +15.986s
9 Luca Day Momentum Motorsports +21.345s
10 Michael Fatutta Champagne Racing +21.355s
Pole: Szuch, 1m57.093s
Fastest lap: Alex Berg, 1m57.009s

Race 2 (10 laps)
1 R Felber 30m02.330s
2 Mokarem +1.699s
3 Dass +7.852s
4 Hanssen +7.883s
5 Day +22.564s
6 William Rohan Crosslink Competition +23.077s
7 Jacir +25.926s
8 Ronan Bray Berg Racing +35.853s
Ret Alex Berg Berg Racing
Ret Irazu
FL: Jacir, 1m57.704s

Championship standings
1 Irazu 196   2 Szuch 173   3 Dass 130.5   4 Daniel Cara 126.5   5 C Felber 126.5   6 R Felber 100   7 Mokarem 87   8 Jacir 79   9 Hanssen 69   10 Pablo Benites 55

The post Cooper Shipman crowned US F4 champion with double Virginia win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: US F4

Cooper Shipman extended his unbeaten run in United States Formula 4 during its trip to Mosport in Canada last weekend.

The Kiwi Motorsport driver was a second faster than anyone in practice, and still had a 0.677-second advantage in qualifying. MLT Motorsports’ Alex Popow was second, and Kiwi’s Oliver Savoie was third despite being 1.9s off the pace.

Only five drivers on the eight-car entry list set flying laps, and three picked up five-place grid penalties including debutant Savoie.

Popow drove around the outside of Shipman at the opening corner of race one, and Kekai Hauanio had risen from sixth to third after going down Clemente Huerta’s inside at turn three. A huge crash for Savoie at turn eight that ripped off the rear of his car then neutralised racing, with drivers waiting until lap six for the restart.

A one-second gap was built by Popow within a lap of racing, but Shipman closed back in. He was alongside at the end of the back straight on lap nine, then went around the outside of him there on lap 11 to reclaim the lead. After that he pulled away to win by 4.264s, while the battle for third heated up.

Huerta began pressuring Hauanio on lap 14 of 19, getting very close on the Mario Andretti straight, and tried passing on the inside into lap eight a lap later but could not pull off the move. He was alongside again on lap 17, and this time passed before the corner. Shortly after, Hauanio went off on the pit straight and dropped back.

Having set the fastest lap, Huerta got to start race two from pole ahead of Shipman, Popow and Hauanio.

After a confusing first lap, Huerta had a gap to Huanaio, Popow and Shipman. Savoie went off on lap three, as Demitri Nolan tried passing Luke Powers for sixth.

The lead group compressed on lap four, and Shipman got to the inside of Popow and ahead before the esses.

Hauanio snuck ahead of Huerta a lap later, and Shipman was able to slipstream past too. Popow was next to clear Huerta on lap six, and Shipman took the lead on the outside down the back straight.

He then pulled away, leaving a three-way fight for second. Huerta looked to reclaim third on lap 13, and the trio ended lap 15 side-by-side. Popow got ahead, and Huerta then attacked Hauanio until crashing out at turn one on lap 18. That triggered a caution period that ran to the end, and guaranteeing victory for Shipman.

Huerta missed race three, which Shipman led lights-to-flag after a frantic first lap. Popow was side-by-side with him for a bit but ran out of room to get ahead, then Hauanio overtook him at Moss Corner.

Popow reclaimed second at the end of the back straight, but lost it again on lap 14.

Nolan took fourth from Powers in the esses on lap four, then Campbell harassed him until a wide moment at turn three meant he eased past on lap six.

Campbell then hunted down Nolan, passing him into turn one on lap 11, while Powers retired in the pits.

Results round-up
Race 1 (19 laps)
1 Cooper Shipman Kiwi Motorsport 30m33.362s
2 Alex Popow MLT Motorsports +4.264s
3 Clemente Huerta Kiwi Motorsport +4.884s
4 Kekai Hauanio Crosslink Competition +6.439s
5 Caleb Campbell LC Racing Academy +11.409s
6 Demitri Nolan Crosslink Competition +30.722s
7 Luke Powers Toney Driver Development +40.354s
Ret Oliver Savoie Kiwi Motorsport
Pole: Shipman, 1m19.708s
Fastest lap: Huerta, 1m20.623s

Race 2 (19 laps)
1 Shipman 27m57.575s
2 Popow +0.206s
3 Hauanio +1.085s
4 Powers +1.697s
5 Nolan +2.834s
6 Campbell +3.579s
7 Savoie +4.800s
8 Huerta +2 laps
FL: Shipman, 1m20.692s

Race 3 (22 laps)
1 Shipman 30m03.429s
2 Hauanio +4.359s
3 Popow +6.555s
4 Campbell +15.294s
5 Nolan +29.309s
6 Savoie +48.322s
Ret Powers
DNS Huerta
FL: Shipman, 1m20.710s

Championship standings
1 Shipman 248.5   2 Hauanio 201.5   3 Popow 180   4 Campbell 127   5 Huerta 126.5   6 Nolan 91   7 Ty Arbogast 53.5   8 Powers 33   9 Conor Grant 14   10 Savoie 14

The post Cooper Shipman extends US F4 unbeaten run in trip to Canada appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Cooper Shipman and Gaston Irazu both took double Formula 4 wins at New Jersey Motorsports Park last weekend.

Kiwi Motorsport’s Shipman achieved the feat in United States F4, which only attracted seven entries in second-generation cars.

It was MLT Motorsports’ Alex Popow who set the pace in practice and qualifying, which was red flagged. Popow went 0.202 seconds quicker than Crosslink Competition’s Kekai Hauanio before the session ended, and Shipman was third fastest but one of three drivers to get five-place grid penalties. That meant his team-mate Demitri Nolan was promoted to third on the race one grid, and Toney Driver Development’s Luke Powers lined up fourth despite being slowest by some margin.

Race one was dramatic, with Hauanio squeezing to the inside of Popow at turn two then the poleman going off at the chicane on lap one and dropping to seventh. Nolan crashed out of second at turn two on lap two, and both a caution period and red flags were triggered.

Race control continued with the former, then made the track green again on lap five. Shipman, who had inherited second, was immediately alongside Hauanio but went off at turn one and dropped to fifth.

LC Racing Academy’s Caleb Campbell was now second, but Kiwi’s Clemente Huerta took the position from him at turn one a lap later.

Campbell then had Popow and Shipman on his tail through lap seven. Shipman overtook Popow at the chicane, Popow dived back past and they squabbled until Popow had a huge crash at turn two on lap eight.

Another caution period was needed, and on the lap 12 restart Huerta went down Hauanio’s inside for the lead but then went off at turn one. Campbell hugged the inside line and emerged with the lead, with Shipman rising to second.

He was 0.046s ahead at the end of the lap, and Shipman nosed ahead as they began lap 14 but had to make it stick with the outside line at turn one. Hauanio pressured Campbell after that until the chequered flag was weaved at the end of lap 16 due to Powers crashing and losing his rear wheels.

Half-points were awarded, and a 30s penalty for causing a collision demoted Campbell to fourth.

Shipman’s fastest lap put him on race two pole, which all drivers attended after car repairs.

Hauanio swept around the outside of turn one to go from third to first on the opening lap, and a few corners later Campbell went off and dropped down the order. Huerta also had a huge off late in the lap, and Hauanio began lap two a second clear of Shipman, who had a big gap to Campbell and Popow.

Campbell rode the inside and outside kerbs at turn one and was sent spinning off once he tried turning in, and a caution period was called just before he got his car moving again.

He was with the pack when racing resumed on lap four, and Hauanio weaved to defend his lead. Hurerta and Campbell got up to fourth and fifth, then Campbell crashed again on lap six and another caution period began.

The next restart was on lap 10, and Hauanio weaved again. Points leader Shipman was able to go around his outside at turn one a lap later and then pulled away to win. Huerta inherited third after Popow got a five-second penalty for impeding.

In the Ligier Junior Formula Championship, Irazu topped practice then Champagne Racing team-mate Roman Felber beat him to pole by 0.294s.

Felber jumped race one’s start and quickly built a big lead while Irazu was slow off the line and fell down the order. He had recovered to fourth by the end of lap one, and began lap three just behind Berg Racing’s Harbir Dass who he squeezed down the inside of for second. He had 1.5s to then make up on Felber, and the gap ebbed and flowed until lap 10 when he brought it down to 0.652s.

Irazu was on Felber’s tail on lap 15 of 22, but he defended well to stay ahead until a lock-up on lap 20 cost him the lead.

An incident dropped Dass down the order mid-race, then Champagne’s Cash Felber was third until retiring three laps from the end. Berg’s Drew Szuch finished third, too far back to benefit from Roman Felber’s five-second penalty.

There was contact at the start of race two and Irazu went from first to fourth as Dass led Roman Felber and Szuch. Irazu finally reclaimed a place on lap five before a caution period began due to a double crash, and when racing resumed on lap 10 he was on the leaders’ tails. Dass blocked Felber into turn one and Irazu snatched second, and with a late lunge there on lap 13 he cleared Dass for the lead. Cash Felber soon made his way into second, and Roman Felber squeezed past Dass on the last lap.

Race three was cancelled for both championships.

Results round-up
US F4
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Cooper Shipman Kiwi Motorsport 29m34.513s
2 Kekai Hauanio Crosslink Competition +1.954s
3 Clemente Huerta Kiwi Motorsport +8.134s
4 Caleb Campbell LC Racing Academy +31.644s
5 Luke Powers Toney Driver Development +1 lap
Ret Alex Popow MLT Motorsports
Ret Demitri Nolan Crosslink Competition
Pole: Hauanio, 1m18.884s
Fastest lap: Shipman, 1m19.031s

Race 2 (19 laps)
1 Shipman 31m05.719s
2 Hauanio +1.279s
3 Huerta +9.233s
4 Popow +10.414s
5 Powers +15.857s
6 Nolan +30.649s
Ret Campbell
FL: Shipman, 1m18.998s

Championship standings
1 Shipman 173.5   2 Hauanio 156.5   3 Popow 129   4 Huerta 107.5   5 Campbell 97   6 Nolan 63   7 Ty Arbogast 53.5   8 Powers 15   9 Conor Grant 14

Ligier JFC
Race 1 (22 laps)
1 Gaston Irazu Champagne Racing 29m53.568s
2 Roman Felber Champagne Racing +5.866s
3 Drew Szuch Berg Racing +12.127s
4 Max Mokarem Momentum Motorsports +14.588s
5 Daniel Cara Cara Origin Motorsports +20.956s
6 Ava Hanssen Ava Hanssen Racing +27.613s
7 Zach Fourie Kiwi Motorsport +33.303s
8 Michael Fatutta Champagne Racing +41.555s
9 Harbir Dass Berg Racing +1 lap
10 Luca Day LC Racing Academy +1 lap
Pole: Felber, 1m20.459s
Fastest lap: Irazu, 1m20.127s

Race 2 (18 laps)
1 Irazu 31m04.828s
2 Cash Felber Champagne Racing +1.531s
3 R Felber +3.871s
4 Dass +5.120s
5 Szuch +5.469s
6 Beckham Jacir LC Racing Academy +9.293s
7 Cara +15.603s
8 Hanssen +16.005s
9 Mokarem +18.017s
10 Jordyn Martin LC Racing Academy +38.570s
FL: R Felber, 1m21.239s

Championship standings
1 Irazu 190   2 Szuch 148   3 Cara 126.5   4 C Felber 111.5   5 Dass 106.5   6 Jacir 65   7 Mokarem 57   8 R Felber 57   9 Pablo Benites 55   10 Hanssen 53

The post Shipman and Irazu take F4 doubles at New Jersey Motorsports Park appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

United States Formula 4 and Ligier Junior Formula Championship were in action at Mid-Ohio last weekend for round three of their seasons.

Qualifying was super close, with Cooper Shipman setting a 1m24.491s to claim pole by 0.186 seconds over Alex Popow Jr. Kekai Hauanio was 0.016s slower than Popow in third, and 0.024s ahead of Caleb Campbell.

A 1m26.595s made Beckham Jacir the quickest LJFC driver, but only by 0.088s. Pablo Benites was next up, and he had a 0.589s pace advantage over Drew Szuch in third. Gaston Irazu was 0.73s off LJFC pole in fourth, and 0.132s ahead of Cash Felber.

In US F4 race one, Hauanio was already leading after the opening corner. Shipman got his car back ahead at turn four but went deep and Hauanio led again exiting turn six. The lead returned to Shipman at turn four on lap two, and Hauanio had no response.

Popow overtook Hauanio into turn one on lap 13, then a wobble later in the lap meant the former leader dropped back even further. Campbell had caught up with him by lap 18, and made two attempts to pass. The same occurred on lap 19, then he tried through the esses on the last lap but could not get past, while up front Shipman romped to victory by 6.207s.

Popow set the fastest lap so got race two pole. A rolling start made it easier for him to hold the lead, and he had a gap of a second after lap one.

Campbell used the outside line at turn four to overtake Shipman and then Hauanio in the first two laps. Shipman demoted Hauanio to fourth at turn one on lap five, then attacked Campbell through turns four to six on lap seven.

He almost pushed Campbell on lap eight, but the battle meant Hauanio could get his nose in too. Shipman tried again at the penultimate corner on lap 10, as a lock-up by Popow reduced his lead from 1.6s to 1.2s.

It soon became a four-way fight, and Campbell went side-by-side with Popow from turns two to four on lap 12. Shipman then forced an error from him in the esses, and Campbell dropped to fourth.

Campbell reclaimed third with a great move a lap later, and the lap after made it to second as Shipman went around the outside of Popow at turn four and Campbell passed him in the esses.

It got frantic again on lap 18 as the top two went side-by-side and Clemente Huerta overtook Huanaio. Campbell went off at turn four on lap 19 when attempting a move, and he was soon behind Popow as Shipman sprinted away.

Hauanio passed Huerta on the inside at turn four on the penultimate lap, then slid at turn eight and fell behind again. Going into The Keyhole for the final time he made a pass stick, but Huerta dived back past at turn four as both slid into the corner.

Ligier JFC had 15 cars for its races, but Jacir, Benites and Szuch got excluded from qualifying so Irazu started race one from pole.

Felber overtook him immediately, and Zach Fourie and Harbir Dass were third and fifth until they went off at turn four. Two spinners meant the pace car was called, pausing Szuch’s charge from 14th once he was in fifth place.

The restart was on lap five, and Szuch swiftly took fourth. Benites passed him on lap six, then they swappled places again starting lap nine. A few corners later, Szuch overtook Daniel Cara for third.

Benites and Jacir made light work of Cara too to keep up with Szuch, but once they began fighting each other Szuch drove away.

Irazu got alongside Felber a few times on lap eight, then took the the lead on the inside of The Keyhole on lap 10. He concded it at the start of lap 15, then spun down the order at turn five.

The drama ramped up again on the penultimate lap, as Jacir went around the outside of Benites at turn two and Szuch took the lead around the outside at turn four.

Szuch won by 1.42s, Benited held off Cara at the finish and Irazu came 11th.

Irazu had a chance at redemption in race two, as the race one fastest lap had put him on pole. He did not waste it, as he won another battle-filled encounter.

Cara was chasing at first, with Benites jumping from sixth to third on lap one. After an early caution period, Irazu made an error at turn five and Cara went through. Benites relegated him to third a lap later, but they continued racing as a group and Irazu came out on top of a three-wide moment later on with the lead.

Another caution period eradicated the gap he then built, and in the final lap restart Benites beat Cara to second.

Jacir overtook Irazu for the lead at the start of race three, but had jumped the start so got a 10s penalty, and the poleman ended lap one in fourth.

Benites overtook Cara for second at The Keyhole on lap two, while Szuch languished in eighth.

Cara dropped to sixth on lap three, behind Irazu, Roman Felber and brother Cash. They traded places at turn four on lap seven, and gained a spot when points leader Irazu spun there a lap later.

A caution was called on lap 10, which the race ended behind. Benites inherited victory ahead of Cash Felber and Szuch, with Irazu ninth, Roman down in 13th due a five-second penalty for forcing a driver off and Jacir in 14th.

Results round-up
US F4
Race 1 (21 laps)
1 Cooper Shipman Kiwi Motorsport 30m07.114s
2 Alex Popow Jr MLT Motorsports +6.207s
3 Kekai Hauanio Crosslink Competition +11.358s
4 Caleb Campbell LC Racing Academy +11.799s
5 Demitri Nolan Crosslink Competition +19.656s
6 Clemente Huerta Raab Kiwi Motorsport +38.954s
Pole: Shipman, 1m24.491s
Fastest lap: Popow, 1m24.783s

Race 2 (21 laps)
1 Shipman 30m15.314s
2 Popow +4.622s
3 Campbell +5.344s
4 Huerta +8.443s
5 Hauanio +13.143s
Ret Nolan
FL: Campbell, 1m25.146s

Championship standings
1 Shipman 136   2 Hauanio 129.5   3 Popow 117   4 Campbell 91   5 Huerta 85   6 Nolan 55   7 Ty Arbogast 61   8 Conor Grant 14   9 Luke Powers 0

Ligier JFC
Race 1 (18 laps)
1 Cash Felber Champagne Racing 30m40.473s
2 Beckham Jacir LC Racing Academy +1.092s
3 Drew Szuch Berg Racing +3.598s
4 Pablo Benites Scuderia Buell +3.645s
5 Daniel Cara Cara Origin Motorsports +3.816s
6 Zach Fourie Kiwi Motorsport +9.035s
7 Harbir Dass Berg Racing +9.168s
8 Ava Hanssen Ava Hanssen Racing +14.006s
9 Max Mokarem Momentum Motorsports +23.112s
10 Michael Fatutta Champagne Racing +34.115s
P: Gaston Irazu, 1m27.325s
FL: Irazu, 1m27.010s

Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Irazu Champagne Racing 28m12.703s
2 Benites +0.478s
3 Cara +0.855s
4 Jacir +1.132s
5 C Felber +1.536s
6 Roman Felber Champagne Racing +1.926s
7 Szuch +2.443s
8 Fourie +2.899s
9 Dass +3.898s
10 Mokarem +4.127s
FL: Irazu, 1m27.835s

Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Benites 20m45.120s
2 C Felber +0.336s
3 Szuch +0.768s
4 Dass +1.007s
5 Hanssen +2.062s
6 Cara +2.252s
7 Fourie +2.630s
8 Mokarem +3.387s
9 Irazu +3.930s
10 Fatutta +4.242s
FL: Jacir, 1m28.352s

Championship standings
1 Irazu 140   2 Szuch 123   3 Cara 90   4 C Felber 93.5   5 Dass 91   6 Jacir 57   7 Benites 55   8 Mokarem 43   9 Hanssen 41   10 Augusto Paschetta 42

The post F4 racers put on entertaining battles at Mid-Ohio in cars old and new appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

United States Formula 4 and Ligier Junior Formula Championship held the second round of their seasons at Road America last weekend.

Alex Popow led US F4 practice by 1.111 seconds over Cooper Shipman, then wet weather led to qualifying being cancelled and the championship standings being used for race one’s grid.

Pole therefore went to Popow, ahead of Shipman, Kekai Hauanio, Clemente Huerta Raab and Caleb Campbell.

There was a rolling start, and Hauanio took second before the opening corner. He then attacked Popow, and mid-lap Campbell spun away third. Hauanio took the lead at turn one on lap two, but lost it shortly after.

They kept on battling, which brought other cars into play by lap five. Swiftly, Hauanio and Demitri Nolan overtook Popow, then Nolan grabbed the lead at turn one on lap six. Shipman was next to pass Popow, who then spun as Luke Powers caused a caution period.

Hauanio fought his way back into the lead on the lap seven restart, and soon there was a six-car fight for second. It went wrong on lap nine as Nolan and Shipman had a big crash, and Hauanio’s 3.3s lead was eliminated by the pace car. He ended up leading home Huerta and Popow.

Nolan and Shipman got grid penalties for race two, putting Huerta on pole ahead of Ty Arbogast. Huerta spun off on the formation lap but returned to the front, then sprinted off in a messy start. Shipman and Campbell made it to turn one in second and third.

Huerta fell to fifth and Nolan spun on lap two, and Popow took the lead on lap three. Shipman then fought with Campbell until he went off at turn five on lap four and conceded second. They continued squabbling, with Hauanio then joining in, allowing Popow to sprint off.

Hauanio claimed third at turn one on lap nine, then went side-by-side with Shipman for four corners on lap 11. Mechanical issues then eliminated Popow and caused a caution period, and before racing was neutralised Campbell took the lead. Shipman beat Hauanio to second.

Popow did at least get race three pole having set the fastest lap, but immediately lost his advantage. Hauanio led Campbell into turn one, then it was three-wide before turn five and Shipman took first place.

Campbell reclaimed the lead before another mechanical issue for Popow instigated a caution period. Racing resumed on lap five, and points leader Hauanio overtook Campbell as Huerta leapt up to third.

A lap later he collided with Campbell while going for second at turn five, and the pace car returned. The field was released for one more lap of racing, and Nolan went around Hauanio’s outside at turn one to move to the front. Hauanio was back ahead at turn six, and beat Nolan to victory by 0.026s.

Ligier JFC also lost its qualifying session to bad weather, and used the same solution for its race one grid.

Free practice pace-setter Daniel Cara had made his way past poleman Gaston Irazu by lap four, and was pulling away from Irazu’s battle with Drew Szuch before a caution period.

There were two laps of racing after that, and the fight for second continued. Beckham Jacir and Harbir Dass joined in to set up a photo finish, which ended up being for the win as Cara got a five-second penalty for a lap one collision. Szuch pipped Irazu by 0.03s, with Dass and Jacir within 0.11s of victory.

Having also set the fastest lap, Szuch picked up race two pole. Jacir stalled from second place, and so a caution period was immediately called for.

Szuch fell down the order on the restart lap, and Irazu led but was then passed by Cara. Another caution period began on lap seven, by which point Szuch had recovered to fourth. However he got spun around before the final lap restart, so racing was neutralised once again just after Dass had gained and then lost second.

Cara started on pole for race three, which was full of battles. Dass was his closest rival at first, then Irazu got into second. On lap four they went side-by-side until Cara went off at turn eight and fell to third behind Szuch.

The top two got feisty on lap six, and Cara maximised that by going down the inside of both at turn five. Irazu soon reclaimed the lead.

Cara slipstreamed past as lap eight began, and Szuch pinched second at turn four. Irazu then went off, dropping behind Jacir, but was leading again by lap 10 as Cara spun and Szuch went off at turn one. He led home Szuch and Jacir, but then a five-second penalty for failing to leave racing room handed Szuch victory.

Results round-up
US F4
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Kekai Hauanio Crosslink Competition 28m00.687s
2 Clemente Huerta Raab Kiwi Motorsport +0.201s
3 Caleb Campbell LC Racing Academy +0.842s
4 Ty Arbogast RASE Motorsports +1.113s
5 Alex Popow Jr MLT Motorsports +5.240s
6 Cooper Shipman Kiwi Motorsport +1m20.705s
7 Demitri Nolan Crosslink Competition +2 laps
Ret Luke Powers Toney Driver Development
Fastest lap: Nolan, 2m15.014s

Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Campbell 28m25.758s
2 Shipman +0.412s
3 Hauanio +0.987s
4 Arbogast +1.398s
5 Nolan +2.433s
6 Huerta +43.169s
7 Popow +2 laps
Ret Powers
FL: Popow, 2m12.738s

Race 3 (9 laps)
1 Hauanio 33m45.781s
2 Nolan +0.026s
3 Arbogast +0.504s
4 Shipman +0.560s
Ret Campbell
Ret Huerta
Ret Popow
Ret Powers
FL: Shipman, 2m17.571s

Championship standings
1 Hauanio 117   2 Shipman 92   3 Popow 81   4 Huerta 65   5 Campbell 64   6 Arbogast 61   7 Nolan 54   8 Conor Grant 14   9 Powers 0

Ligier JFC
Race 1 (10 laps)
1 Drew Szuch Berg Racing 29m35.785s
2 Gaston Irazu Champagne Racing +0.030s
3 Harbir Dass Berg Racing +0.101s
4 Beckham Jacir LC Racing Academy +0.107s
5 Cash Felber Champagne Racing +0.894s
6 Daniel Cara Cara Origin Motorsports +2.386s
7 Ava Hanssen Ava Hanssen Racing +3.695s
8 Max Mokarem Momentum Motorsports +4.820s
9 Kelsey Pinkowski Crosslink Competition +15.234s
10 Michael Fatutta Champagne Racing +15.785s
Fastest lap: Szuch, 2m19.984s

Race 2 (9 laps)
1 Cara 30m56.823s
2 Irazu +1.183s
3 Dass +1.748s
4 Augusto Paschetta Scuderia Buell +2.345s
5 Hanssen +2.994s
6 Roman Felber Champagne Racing +3.781s
7 Fatutta +4.607s
8 Pinkowski +5.736s
9 Mokarem +34.238s
10 C Felber +1 lap
FL: Szuch, 2m19.984s

Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Szuch 30m29.797s
2 Irazu +3.982s
3 Jacir +4.291s
4 Cara +7.172s
5 C Felber +9.614s
6 Mokarem +9.800s
7 Dass +17.859s
8 R Felber +19.829s
9 Hanssen +55.319s
10 Fatutta +1m09.014s
FL: Irazu, 2m18.284s

Championship standings
1 Irazu 122   2 Cara 90   3 Szuch 87   4 Dass 79   5 Paschetta 42   6 C Felber 41   7 Mokarem 37   8 Hanssen 32   9 Jacir 27   10 R Felber 20

The post F4 youngsters provide thrills and spills across six races at Road America appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: US F4

The USA’s two national Formula 4 championships began their seasons at NOLA Motorsports Park this weekend.

Ligier’s first-generation chassis was used in the rebranded Ligier Junior Formula Championship, which attracted 14 drivers.

Drew Szuch topped practice, edging Gaston Irazu to top spot by 0.027 seconds, then in qualifying Daniel Cara came to the fore. He set a 1m42.082s to beat Irazu to pole by 0.285s, and Augusto Paschetta was 0.427s back in third. Szuch qualified sixth.

Max Mokarem caused red flags so lost his fastest laps, and Irazu was among six drivers with grid penalties for using fresh tyres in practice so Szuch started race one in fourth.

Paschetta took the lead at the opening corner, but Harbir Dass and Szuch were past him before lap one end. Szuch took the lead as they began lap two, just before a caution period was called. Racing resumed on lap four, and the top two broke away. Paschetta lost more places, with Irazu in third but already three seconds behind on lap five after passing Cara.

Szuch’s engine cover came off on lap six, eliminating him, and Irazu began closing in on Dass. By lap eight he was leading, with Dass responding to his first diving pass but unable to do anything about the next one. Irazu pulled away to win, and Dass was runner-up after Cara was penalised for jumping the start.

Setting the fastest lap put Irazu on race two pole ahead of Cara, Dass and Paschetta. The race had a confusing start, with Szuch jumping into the lead on a slippy track. The pace car’s presence then denied Irazu a shot at reclaiming first place, and ended Dass and Cara’s squabble for third.

Irazu still set the fastest lap, so started from pole again for race three on Sunday. Mokarem came from fourth to pass him around the outside of the opening corner for the lead, but when Mokarem made a mistake later in the lap the lead returned to Irazu and he sprinted away for a huge win and the points lead.

There was a four-car fight for second on lap three, and Dass emerged ahead of Cara, Szuch and Mokarem. Dass lost a place in each of the next three laps, and Cara established himself in second. Mokarem fought his way into third on lap nine.

United States F4 attracted just eight examples of Ligier’s second-generation car.

Cooper Shipman led Kekai Hauanio by 0.364s in practice, and Hauanio struck back by 0.039s in qualifying but got a five-place grid penalty for using new tyres.

Race one had a rolling start due to the track’s slippiness, and several drivers spun. Alex Popow passed Shipman and Hauanio overtook Clemente Huerta for third as lap two began, then Shipman reclaimed the lead on lap three.

Hauanio cleared Popow on lap five, and a caution period removed his three-second deficit to Shipman. The lead changed hands on the restart, and following a three-wide moment Hauanio kept ahead and went on to win.

Shipman netted pole for race two, but lost out to Popow and Hauanio on lap one. Popow (who had recovered from food poisoning) charged off to a 9.722s victory, as Shipman reeled Hauanio back in, passed him on lap eight of 15 then pulled away. Huerta won his lengthy fight with Caleb Campbell for fourth by 0.119s with a move at the race’s final corner.

Popow resisted Shipman through the first seven laps of race three before a caution period brought Hauanio and Huerta, who spun in the esses on lap two, onto their tail.

The lap 10 restart was nailed by Popow, and Huerta passed Shipman at the end of the lap but Shipman got back past. The points lead went to Popow with victory, and Huerta prevailed against Hauanio and Campbell in a tense fight for third.

Results round-up
US F4
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Kekai Hauanio Crosslink Competition 24m28.009s
2 Cooper Shipman Kiwi Motorsport +0.465s
3 Alex Popow MLT Motorsports +0.890s
4 Clemente Huerta Kiwi Motorsport +6.097s
5 Conor Grant Scuderia Buell +6.504s
6 Ty Arbogast RASE Motorsports +7.913s
7 Demitri Nolan Crosslink Competition +41.853s
8 Caleb Campbell LC Racing Academy +2 laps
Pole: Hauanio, 1m39.178s
Fastest lap: Shipman, 1m40.698s

Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Popow 25m15.984s
2 Shipman +9.722s
3 Hauanio +13.415s
4 Huerta +24.459s
5 Campbell +24.578s
6 Nolan +44.339s
7 Arbogast +45.713s
8 Grant +1m38.012s
FL: Popow, 1m39.730s

Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Popow 29m30.185s
2 Shipman +0.687s
3 Huerta +9.464s
4 Hauanio +12.239s
5 Campbell +12.480s
6 Arbogast +14.841s
7 Nolan +41.451s
Ret Grant
FL: Popow, 1m40.704s

Championship standings
1 Popow 65   2 Shipman 54   3 Hauanio 52   4 Huerta 39   5 Campbell 24   6 Arbogast 22   7 Nolan 20   8 Grant 14

Ligier JFC
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Gaston Irazu Champagne Racing 24m24.618s
2 Harbir Dass Berg Racing +6.526s
3 Daniel Cara Cara Origin Motorsports +8.583s
4 Augusto Paschetta Scuderia Buell +11.944s
5 Cash Felber Champagne Racing +24.030s
6 Ava Hanssen Ava Hanssen Racing +41.633s
7 Zach Fourie Jensen Global Advisors +46.615s
8 Josh Griffith Jensen Global Advisors +1m10.180s
9 Roman Felber Champagne Racing +1m31.645s
10 Michael Fatutta Champagne Racing +1m32.348s
Pole: Cara, 1m42.082s
Fastest lap: Irazu, 1m42.860s

Race 2 (10 laps)
1 Drew Szuch Berg Racing 24m35.358s
2 Irazu +0.639s
3 Dass +1.210s
4 Cara +1.442s
5 Paschetta +2.210s
6 Max Mokarem Momentum Motorsports +2.815s
7 C Felber +3.263s
8 Hanssen +4.125s
9 Luca Day LC Racing Academy +6.070s
10 Kelsey Pinkowski Crosslink Competition +6.873s
FL: Irazu, 1m43.533s

Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Irazu 29m35.785s
2 Cara +7.381s
3 Mokarem +13.146s
4 Szuch +22.739s
5 Dass +23.256s
6 Paschetta +24.738s
7 R Felber +26.128s
8 C Felber +26.436s
9 Hanssen +30.434s
10 Fourie +44.715s
FL: Irazu, 1m43.246s

Championship standings
1 Irazu 68   2 Cara 45   3 Dass 43   4 Szuch 37   5 Paschetta 30   6 Mokarem 23   7 C Felber 20   8 Hanssen 14   9 R Felber 8   10 Fourie 7

The post USA’s national F4 championships kick off at NOLA Motorsports Park appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Meritus GP

There was plenty of F4 racing in 2024, with career-launching campaigns accompanied by winter warm-ups

Middle East

The go-to winter series for several years now has been Formula 4 United Arab Emirates, which races at Yas Marina Circuit and Dubai Autodrome. Prema’s Mumbai Falcons-branded cars were the ones to beat, and Italian F4 dominator Freddie Slater needed just two wins and four other podiums from 15 races to pip team-mate Kean Nakamura-Berta to the title.

Nakamura won the season opener in Abu Dhabi, which Yas Heat Academy’s Keanu Al Azhari started from pole, and Formula 3-bound Nikita Bedrin won for PHM Racing in the reversed-grid race. Slater won race three, and passed team-mate Alex Powell to make it two in a row in the opening race of round two. Al Azhari won the next two races, but Slater was on the podium in both to hold the points lead.

Bedrin turned pole into victory twice at Dubai, with Powell getting his sole win in the reversed-grid contest, and a double podium put Al Azhari on Slater’s tail in the title fight. A return to Abu Dhabi spiced up the season narrative in round four.

Prema’s Doriane Pin won race one from pole after on-the-road victor Nakamura was penalised for jumping the start, and Al Azhari and Slater collided on lap one. Although he was demoted to fifth, Nakamura still boosted his title chances.

Hitech GP’s Gabriel Stilp came through from sixth on the grid to dominate a wet race two, and all three title contenders failed to score. The weather was unpredictable for race three, and led to a mix of strategies. Al Azhari took the points lead by finishing third, as Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri won and neither Slater or Nakamura finished.

Nakamura took a double pole in the final round at Dubai, and after winning a dusty race one ahead of Al Dhaheri there was now a five-way title fight as his two main rivals could only finish fifth and ninth. R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny won the reversed-grid race, Slater pipped Al Azhari to fourth to become his main rival and Nakamura stayed in contention by scoring two points.

Photo: F4 UAE

Al Dhaheri immediately passed Nakamura for the lead in the title-deciding race three and all but ended his hopes since Slater was sat behind him in third. Focus then switched to Al Azhari, who lost the title to Slater by finishing eighth.

Running concurrently to F4 UAE was the inaugural Saudi Arabian F4 season, where all cars were run by Meritus GP. Federico Al Rifai won twice in the first round at Kuwait Motor Town (in Kuwait), while in round two at the circuit, Saqer Almaosherji, Al Rifai, Andrej Petrovic and Suleiman Zanfari shared the wins. Retrospectively it was made a non-championship event, so Qatar’s Losail circuit instead hosted round two in March and Al Rifai took another double.

Eventually races actually took place in Saudi Arabia, and three rounds were held in Jeddah over the course of 11 days. Petrovic took the points lead by winning twice in the first of the triple-header events, with Al Rifai’s title ambitions hurt by missing a race. However he moved back ahead with his own double in the next round, and when the results of race one in the final round was taken back by a lap [without explanation] it handed Al Rifai another win at the expense of Petrovic.

Although Petrovic won the final race, it was too late as Al Rifai wrapped up the title the day before in a race won by Zanfari.

Over the last month there has been further F4 action in the UAE with the Formula Trophy. Al Dhaheri was the star of round one at Dubai, remained unbeaten in qualifying for round two in Abu Dhabi but for the second time lost a win to a penalty, and then skipped round three. A double podium earned Evans GP’s Kai Daryanani the crown, but Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon stole the headlines with his race one win.

Spain

Formula Winter Series featured a combination of drivers warming up for Italian F4 and Spanish F4, and MP Motorsport’s Griffin Peebles was champion of the four-round tour of Spain. Jerez was more wet and wild than warm-up, and the wins went to Andres Cardenas (Campos Racing), Peebles and Juan Cota (Drivex School).

Photo: Gedlich Racing/Daniel Burgin

Cardenas left with the points lead, but further chaos at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit put Peebles ahead. Cardenas won a red-flagged race one, Peebles was victorious in a delayed and safety car-filled race two and US Racing’s Matheus Ferreira led home Peebles in race three. James Egozi appeared on the grid with Campos at Motorland Aragon, and was announced as joining the Red Bull Junior Team. He proved worthy of his Formula 1 backing by taking pole and a win, while Al Azhari came over from the UAE to do the same with MP. Rodin Motorsport’s single-seater rookie Thomas Strauven won race two.

Storms at Barcelona limited track action until race two, which Peebles won from pole. He was victorious again in race three to seal the title. MP’s Maciej Gladysz was third in the points, and would be the most competitive of FWinter Series’ full-timers in Spanish F4.

His team-mate Lucas Fluxa won twice in the opening round at Jarama, but actually crashed out of the second race he won, then never had another competitive showing over the season. Al Azhari came to the fore at Algarve in Portugal, then team-mate Mattia Colnaghi was dominant in the first two races at Paul Ricard in France. Gladysz won the third, and took another two at Aragon before Al Azhari returned to the top step of the podium to hold a sizeable points lead.

Cota went unbeaten at Valencia, and while Al Azhari and Gladysz both made the podium they also retired in race one due to colliding and each had another non-score. Colnaghi’s two podiums made him a more likely title contender, and he stepped up to that status by being the form driver thereon.

He won twice at Jerez to become points leader in theory, but Al Azhari also claimed a victory and went into the final round 13 points ahead after winning an appeal against a penalty at Aragon. In race one at Barcelona, Colnaghi soaked up a lot of pressure from his rival for another win, then moved ahead on victory countback by winning race two, before a track limits penalty for Al Azhari cost him a podium and handed Colnaghi a big advantage going into the decider.

Cota cruised to victory, not quite enough to deny Gladysz third in the points. Al Azhari had another off-track moment and this time went penalty-free despite moving ahead of Colnaghi, who became champion in fifth as Al Azhari came home third.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Two weeks prior, Valencia specialist Cota had claimed the Motorsport Games F4 gold medal at the track. He was pipped to pole by 0.007s in a damp qualifying session, but then won the qualification and main race.

North America

Starting, or rather ending the F4 action on this continent is NACAM F4 since the first three rounds of its 2024-25 season have already taken place. The Mexico-based series had issues with its switch from first to second-generation F4 chassis, delaying its season start by over four months and making it a multi-year schedule, and Jose Carlos Hernandez leads the way so far.

He won from pole in both races of the F1-supporting first round, team-mate Helio Meza bettered him twice at Autodromo Miguel E. Abed, and Alessandros Racing’s partnership with Campos Racing contributed to former W Series racer Nerea Marti joining their garage in round three this month. Hernandez took two more wins in Mexico City, but Marti pushed hard and took the second F4 win of her career.

United States F4 has also had an uneasy switch to Gen2 machinery, cancelling its first round and averaging just seven cars this season. The Australian drivers, Atlantic Racing Team’s Daniel Quimby and Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport’s Nicolas Stati, and the latter’s New Zealander team-mate Alex Crosbie, were usually fighting each other for victories and Quimby (who went unbeaten at Mosport in Canada) took the crown by just 4.5 points over Stati.

The older cars continued to run in the Ligier JS F4 Series (previously known as Formula Development), which had bigger grids and far more entertaining action. Scuderia Buell’s Teddy Musella won a third of the races and the title, and Crosslink/Kiwi’s Kekai Hauanio denied him pole twice and took four victories and four second places to be runner-up in the standings.

Fifth in the standings was Brad Majman, another of Crosslink/Kiwi’s Australians, and he went unbeaten at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

The same car is used by Formula Pro USA for its F4 Western championship, which cancelled its one-round winter series and also did not go ahead with its planned ‘Women Racing Series’ classification for female entrants. Majman and World Speed Motorsports’ Valentino Garbarino shared the wins in the first two rounds at Thunderhill Raceway Park. Kiwi’s Drew Szuch was the only other driver in round one, and World Speed’s Alexander Cornfeld their sole rival in round two.

Laguna Seca held the next two rounds, the first of which only featured Cornfeld and Garbarino. They took a win each, then Garbarino went unbeaten on the return visit as the grid grew to five cars. Jensen Global Advisors’ Athan Sterling finished second twice, and did the same at Sonoma Raceway where he finished last to newly crowned champion Garbarino.

Four drivers turned up to the Buttonwillow Raceway finale, and Garbarino led home Sterling twice more. Cornfeld finished third in race one, enough to earn him second place in the standings over the absent Majman.

The Skip Barber Formula Race Series ran using Mygale’s Gen1 car, and the title went to Andretti Global junior Oliver Wheldon. After a stellar karting career in the USA, the single-seater rookie wone nine races out of 14 but only very narrowly became champion since third-year driver Dean Lambros was just as consistent. He won four races and took four poles, and was only off the podium once while Wheldon went trophy-free twice. USF Juniors-bound Ryan Giannetta was the other winner.

Asia

The Honda versus Toyota battle occurs in Japanese F4 each year, and in 2024 it was a Honda one-two as Yuto Nomura was near unbeatable in the season’s second half and fellow junior Ryota Horachi consistently saw the podium to be title runner-up.

Despite the rivalry, it is the Toyota-linked TOM’S that is the spec engine supplier and its units were the big talking point of round one as 10 drivers were ruled out of race two at Fuji Speedway due to engine issues. After Toyota junior Yuki Sano won race one, Helm Motorsports’ Tosei Moriyama got the chance to turn his pole into victory with far more ease due to the absence of many of the drivers who would become the usual frontrunners.

Photo: Japanese F4

Nomura won both races from pole at Suzuka, Horachi and Drago Corse’s Hironobu Shimizu came out on top of a 37-car field on the return to Fuji, with Horachi taking the points lead, then Sano doubled up at a soaking wet Sportsland SUGO but only got points for one of those victories as he won a one-lap race.

The championship belonged to Nomura following that, going unbeaten at Autopolis (where rain caused a race to be cancelled) and Twin Ring Motegi then taking a fifth win in a row in the postponed Suzuka round that ended the season. That secured him the title, and Kageyama Racing’s Kotaro Shimbara rose to third in the standings by winning race two.

Chinese F4 was as entertaining as ever, while also mostly going overlooked outside of China. However it was a teenager from Sweden who beat all the locals to become champion. An F1 support slot at Shanghai attracted 27 cars to the season opener, and Blackjack Racing’s Alex Sawer and Fukang Jiang took the wins.

Venom Motorsport’s Oscar Pedersen won twice at Tianfu International Circuit, then had seven consecutive podium finishes at Ningbo and Shanghai to remain atop the standings while wins went to title rival Kaishun Liu (Black Blade Racing), Jiang, the returning Sawer and cameoing Mercedes-AMG F1 junior Yuanpu Cui.

The title fight went down to the final race at Zhuhai, with Pedersen and Liu each taking a win and a second place in the preceding two races. Black Blade’s Yuhao Fu dominated, his weekend lifting him from 10th to fourth in the points, Liu finished second with a diving penultimate lap pass and Pedersen became champion by finishing not far behind in fourth.

MP ran all cars in Indian F4, and ex-F3 racer Hugh Barter crushed the opposition at Chennai in round one.

The new Chennai Formula Racing Circuit, a temporary venue that had been a long-term ambition for the series and was designed to be raced on at night, hosted round two and Barter dominated from pole again in race one. That was held in the early evening, but race two was a proper night-time contest and Aqil Alibhai was victorious after forcing long-time leader Divy Nandan into a mistake on the last lap.

Photo: Indian F4

Barter did no more races, and on the return to the other Chennai track the points lead went to Alibhai as four different drivers won. Triple-headers at Kari Motor Speedway concluded the season in the final version of the calendar, with Alibhai going unbeaten in the first one then being crowned champion in a wet second visit to the track as Ruhaan Alva concluded a nine-race podium streak with two wins and a comfortable championship runner-up spot since Jaden Pariat was absent.

Australia

Currently in limbo is whether the opening FTrophy round also doubled up as the Australian F4 season finale. Originally ran from 2015 to ’19 by Motorsport Australia, the national championship was revived by new promoter Top Speed this year with second-generation Tatuus cars. The Bend Motorsport Park hosted rounds one and two, Sydney Motorsport Park had round three as the cancelled Queensland Raceway event went unreplaced, then the season was due to conclude with races at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit and at Dubai. The latter was down to Top Speed also promoting FTrophy.

But two weeks before the planned finale, the reveal of the all-Australian 2025 calendar was accompanied by the announcement that the AGI Sport team would take over as promoter and older cars would be reintroduced. Since then, Formula Scout has been unable to get a response from either promoter on the Dubai round’s championship status.

Regardless, the title was already settled by then as AGI’s James Piszyck had won the first nine races on home soil then did the minimum required to wrap it up at Sepang as Tiago Rodrigues, Cooper Webster and Daryanani won.

The older cars (both the Mygales previously used in Australian F4 and Tatuus chassis from abroad) were kept in use through 2024 in the AF04 class of the Formula Libre-style Australian Formula Open series. Car racing rookie Isaac McNeill (Volante Rosso) and Jayden Hamilton (Tim Macrow Racing) each contested five rounds out of seven, and McNeill went unbeaten in class until the final race at Phillip Island where Lachlan Evennett won. Evennett had taken a triple win at The Bend when he was the only entrant, with Hamilton doing the same at Sydney. McNeill took the title with ease thanks to his 13 wins.

Photo: Australian F4

Europe

F4 Central European Zone grew in popularity for its third season, and there was a big on-track rivalry between Jenzer Motorsport and Maffi Racing. Both titles went to the former, as Oscar Wurz became champion with a campaign built on consistency. He only won twice, both victories coming at the Slovakiaring, but 12 other podiums were enough for him to beat Maffi’s Kirill Kutskov who won at Balaton Park, Autodrom Most, Brno and then went unbeaten in the Salzburgring finale.

There were five other race winners, but Jenzer’s title outsider Max Karhan was the only full-timer amongst those. He took three victories on home soil in the Czech Republic, and compatriot Miroslav Mikes won at Most. The JMT Racing driver came fourth in the standings despite withdrawing from the final round, meaning AS Motorsport’s Michalina Sabaj was the only other driver to start all the races. Her best result en route to fifth in the points table was a fourth place.

The F2000 Italian Trophy had an F4 class this year, and Sergio Conti won it eight times.

F1 Academy

Supporting F1 at seven grands prix was the all-female F1 Academy, which was dominated by Rodin’s Abbi Pulling. The Alpine junior, a podium-finisher in Formula Regional when racing in the all-female W Series two years ago, was never off the podium and took nine wins, four second places and a third.

Mercedes junior Pin was best-of-the-rest in her first full year of single-seater racing after previously being a sportscar star, starting the season on top in Jeddah and winning two further times to be way ahead of Prema team-mate Maya Weug.

The battle in qualifying was slightly closer, with Pin taking five poles to Pulling’s 10, and she took four fastest laps in races while Pulling took six despite spending most of her time in clean air at the front.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Marti took four podiums to edge MP’s Hamda Al Qubaisi to fourth in the points table, her team-mate Chloe Chambers won race two at Barcelona after Pulling had an airborne moment and Williams F1 junior Lia Block – an established rallying and rallycross driver in the USA who is the daughter of late off-road motorsport star Ken – came eighth in her first full single-seater campaign.

To find out more about the 2024 seasons of Brazilian F4, French F4 and Nordic 4, keep an eye on the Formula Scout website during the off-season!

The post 2024 International Formula 4 season review appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: US F4

Daniel Quimby overhauled Nicolas Stati to become United States Formula 4 champion in the final race of the season at the Circuit of the Americas.

Alex Popow Jr, son of the long-time sportscar racer from Venezuela who won an IMSA class title in 2016, was the driver to beat throughout the weekend and took two wins from three.

The MLT Motorsports driver was making his debut, with his single-seater experience prior to the weekend including a Formula Inter title, a USF Juniors outing and success in the Formula FARA series for first-generation F4 cars.

In practice he made his mark in a second-generation car straight away, going fastest by 0.879 seconds over Connor Roberts. Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport duo Nicolas Stati and Alex Crosbie were 1.2s behind in third and fourth, and Atlantic Racing Team’s Daniel Quimby was fifth.

Kekai Hauanio (Crosslink/Kiwi) was the top Ligier JS F4 Series runner in ninth, 3.971s off the pace in an older car and only fastest in his class by 0.074s over Teddy Musella.

Popow’s advantage was drastically cut in qualifying, a 2m11.816s lap earning him pole by just 0.192s over Crosbie. Stati and Quimby trailed by 0.479s and 0.867s respectively, with 2.576s covering the eight drivers in newer vehicles. A further 0.457s back in ninth overall was Ligier poleman Musella, who beat Scuderia Buell team-mate Sacha van’t Pad Bosch by 0.569s. Champagne Racing’s Leonardo Escorpioni was next best, 1.163s slower than Musella.

The first race of the event concluded Thursday’s track action, and Popow took a lights-to-flag win. He finished 1.394s ahead of Stati, who got ahead of Crosbie at the start and increased his championship lead from 5.5 to 13.5 points with Quimby slipping back to sixth.

Roberts completed the podium while Musella was fourth overall – and ahead of Crosbie – as he took the Ligier series win. Rival Hauanio was running second in the class until his car lost power right at the end and stopped just short of the finish line. Leonardo Escorpioni ultimately took second, almost 20s back from Musella, with Maite Caceres picking up third after Bacon Zelenka was penalised for contact with Brad Majman on the last lap and later suspended for the rest of the weekend having also spun van’t Pad Bosch around one lap one.

Popow won by 1.3s again in race two on Friday, this time managing to rebuild his advantage after a mid-race safety car. Quimby took second after a crucial move at the start to get ahead of rival Stati, who held off Crosbie for third. However, Stati received two penalties – one for contact and one for his defensive moves – that demoted him to sixth and cut his points lead to just 3.5. With Crosbie also penalised for contact, it was Roberts that picked up third in front of Barrett Wolfe.

Musella took advantage of battling between van’t Pad Bosch and Escorpioni to take the Ligier series win in ninth overall. That was enough to wrap up the title one race early – even as Hauanio fought back to fifth after being made to start from pit-lane as a penalty for double contact with Escorpioni in race one.

In Saturday’s finale, Crosbie started from pole and kept the lead at the start while Quimby swept around the outside of Popow and Stati to take second.

Stati spent the early laps battling his way by Popow, knowing that finishing one place behind Quimby would be enough to be champion. However, he was followed past Popow by Roberts and couldn’t keep the latter behind him for long, with the former also eventually repassing him too.

Crosbie survived a final-lap restart to take victory, and while Quimby was also caught by Roberts before the caution, he held on to finish second – enough for him to snatch the title from Stati, who was unable to fight back from fifth.

There was an entertaining multi-car scrap for the last win in the Ligier series until Hauanio and Escorpioni tangled once again over the lead, triggering the late caution. Van’t Pad Bosch picked up victory ahead of Musella.

Results round-up
Race 1 (14 laps)
1 Alex Popow Jr MLT Motorsports 31m12.019s
2 Nicolas Stati AGI Sport +1.394s
3 Connor Roberts Team Roberts Racing +6.188s
4 Teddy Musella Scuderia Buell +9.689s
5 Alex Crosbie Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +9.690s
6 Daniel Quimby Atlantic Racing Team +15.562s
7 Leonardo Escorpioni Champagne Racing +28.174s
8 Barrett Wolfe Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +35.273s
9 Maite Caceres International Motorsports +36.478s
10 Lincoln Day MLT Motorsports +36.561s
Pole: Popow, 2m11.816s
Fastest lap: Popow, 2m11.815s

Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Popow Jr 30m02.192s
2 Quimby +1.373s
3 Roberts +4.492s
4 Wolfe +7.559s
5 Crosbie +7.769s
6 Stati +12.498s
7 Seth Gilmore Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +13.273s
8 Day +14.115s
9 Musella +14.219s
10 Escorpioni +18.593s
FL: Crosbie, 2m12.560s

Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Crosbie 30m07.539s
2 Quimby +0.447s
3 Roberts +0.947s
4 Popow Jr +1.716s
5 Stati +2.921s
6 Gilmore +3.456s
7 Wolfe +3.634s
8 Day +4.662s
9 Sacha van’t Pad Bosch Scuderia Buell +5.860s
10 Musella +7.150s
FL: Crosbie, 2m12.379s

US F4 standings
1 Quimby 227.5   2 Stati 223   3 Roberts 194.5   4 Crosbie 190   5 Wolfe 114   6 Pablo Benites Jr 102   7 Day 78   8 Popow 62   9 Gilmore   10 Marcelo Ponti 0

Ligier JS F4 standings
1 Musella 254   2 Kekai Hauanio 202.5   3 Caceres 137   4 Bacon Zelenka 136.5   5 Brad Majman 134   6 Drew Szuch 108   7 Christopher Parrish 42   8 Harbir Dass 73   9 Jake Pollack 65   10 Demitri Nolan 25

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