The short chicane-filled lap meant laptimes were close in qualifying, and Leon claimed pole by just 0.048 seconds over RPL Racing’s 14-year-old Andres Perez de Lara, with another 0.003s to Leon’s title rival Nico Christodoulou.

In the opening race it was Christodoulou who made it to the front for Scuderia Martiga, an official junior team of USF2000 squad DEForce Racing, and a 0.633s victory over Leon kept the title battle going into the second race.

Jose Garfias Martinez broke away early in race two to claim his third win of the year, with Christodoulou unable to keep up after spending any laps trying to keep Leon behind him. By finishing second, and with Leon in third, it was enough for Leon to br crowned the season champion.

With the pressure off, Leon romped to victory from pole in the season-ending race, ahead of Jorge Garciarce and Christodoulou.

Results round-up
Race 1 (22 laps)
1 Nico Christodoulou Scuderia Martiga 26m40.618s
2 Noel Leon Ram Racing +0.633s
3 Andres Perez de Lara RPL Racing +6.047s
4 Jose Garfias Martinez RPL Racing +6.857s
5 Daniel Escoto FF&R IBC Group +27.697s
6 Thomas Nepveu RPL Racing +34.961s
7 Jose Andres Martinez Scuderia Martiga +52.014s
8 David Morales Euromotor Sport +1m00.309s
9 Alejandro Berumen Ram Racing +4 laps
NC Jorge Garciarce Sidral Aga +10 laps
Pole: Leon, 1m11.203s
Fastest lap: Christodoulou, 1m11.644s

Race 2 (22 laps)
1 Garfias Martinez 26m37.368s
2 Christodoulou +2.456s
3 Leon +3.638s
4 Gil Molina MEA Racing +9.059s
5 Garciarce +19.049
6 Berumen +20.201s
7 Perez de Lara +20.610s
8 Morales +38.351s
9 Andres Martinez +38.929s
Ret Nepveu
FL: Garciarce, 1m11.625s

Race 3 (21 laps)
1 Leon 46m04.915s
2 Garciarce +3.934s
3 Christodoulou +4.780s
4 Garfias Martinez +5.221s
5 Perez de Lara +11.363s
6 Escoto +11.791s
Ret Berumen
Ret Nepveu
Ret Molina
Ret Andres Martinez
P: Leon
FL: Leon, 1m11.576s

Championship standings
1 Leon 325   2 Christodoulou 279   3 A Perez de Lara 252   4 Garfias Martinez 238   5 Pablo Perez de Lara 140   6 Garciarce 88   7 Molina 85   8 Escoto 78   9 Morales 74   10 Nepveu 66

The post Noel Leon wins NACAM F4 title at Monterrey appeared first on Formula Scout.

Prior to the global coronavirus pandemic, an end date of May 30/31 in Mexico City had been set for the series.

Following round four of the season at Autodromo Emerson Fittipaldi at the end of February, the remaining rounds were all postponed or cancelled, with a replacement event also quickly being cancelled.

A series source told Formula Scout in May that a trip to Parque Tangamana in August was the target for the restart of racing action, and that has now been confirmed with three races taking place over the August 22/23 weekend.

Mexico City has not been able to find a way to easily host international motorsport again within current coronavirus restrictions, and has not reclaimed its spots on either the Formula 1 or NACAM F4 calendars.

Series organisers have been able to fit a replacement event at Queretaro, which was used in NACAM F4’s predecessor LATAM Challenge in 2011 and in Formula Panam in 2015. It will host races on September 19/20.

The season will finish as expected at Monterrey, on October 17/18, with the next season now likely to start in 2021 due to both the current season’s delay and Mexico City’s absence from F1’s 2020 calendar.

There are two scheduling clashes with USF2000 on the new calendar, which may end Nico Christodoulou’s F4 title chances and also rule out the likes of Nolan Siegel and Reece Gold completing the season.

NACAM F4’s Esports series is still ongoing, and now uses a virtual version of the Dallara F317 Formula 3 car rather than the Mygale F4 chassis as originally planned.

The post NACAM F4 adds three rounds to conclude 2019-20 season appeared first on Formula Scout.

The NACAM Formula 4 championship is set to extend its 2019-20 season through to October after several rounds were postponed due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Two months ago, the decision was made to put the season on hold after four of the seven scheduled rounds were completed.

The first event to be impacted was the visit to Monterrey’s permanent track on March 21/22, with the Parque Tangamanga round on April 25/26 also disappearing from the calendar.

According to the Mexican motorsport federation, a new round was then inserted into the schedule for a week later, with Mexico City believed to have been the venue. The Formula 1 circuit was then also down to host the season finale on May 30/31, but both of those events are now postponed as the track’s facilities are being used as an emergency hospital to treat COVID-19 patients.

To Formula Scout’s knowledge, the plan now is for the series to reconvene at Parque Tangamanga on August 1/2, with a month’s break before racing at Mexico City on September 5/6, and then another month before the Monterrey season finale on the first available weekend of October.

With the season ending then, it should allow the series to maintain its F1 support slot in November at what is now called the Mexico City Grand Prix. That fixture would likely be the first round of the 2020-21 season.

Prior to racing getting back underway, NACAM F4 will hold its own Esports contest. The F4 NACAM e-Series will begin on May 20 and run for six weeks, using a virtual version of the Mygale F4 chassis the championship uses in real life.

The post NACAM F4 set to extend season, launches Esports series appeared first on Formula Scout.

The BlackArts Racing driver was beaten to pole by local star Heng Min, and then bumped down to third by Zijian He, but had passed both by the first corner and never looked back. Min was also a comfortable second, while an early battle for third between He and Mingchen Sun was settled in He’s favour.

Clark’s team-mate Sun dropped away from the podium trio, but was far clear of Yuanjie Zhu in fifth place.

In race two Clark was even more dominant at the head of the field, while Sun struck back to fight Min all the way to the chequered flag for the runner-up spot. Once again Min took the place for Star Racing, although third for Sun also put him third in the standings.

Freely Racing Club’s Xixi He beat Star’s Le Zhang to fourth, while sixth place for Zijian He – who finished sixth in the standings last year – enough to keep him fourth in the standings.

Manuel Sulaiman took back the NACAM F4 lead at Monterrey with a triple win, while chief title rival Jak Crawford struggled to a single podium.

The Mexican topped practice and qualifying, although was beaten to two of the fastest race laps by Crawford. With no additional points being awarded for fastest lap, it meant Crawford only had his second and sixth place finishes to rely on, and is now 41 points behind Sulaiman in the standings.

Despite encountering mechanical problems, Pablo Perez de Lara was able to pick up a podium and is just 11 points behind Crawford in the championship.

The other two stars of the weekend were Nicholas Chritodolou and Emiliano Richards, each picking up two podiums.

Over in Japan, the 2019 season got underway with a dramatic weekend at Okayama.

Ren Sato, seventh last year with Honda Formula Dream Project, started the weekend with pole position and a impressive first win while chaos ensued behind him.

The first to escape this chaos was TOM’S driver Seita Nonaka, who after establishing himself in second place cut down Sato’s lead advantage from two seconds to 0.943s. It was Sato’s first win, having been stripped of what would’ve been his first success in 2018 due to a yellow flag infringement.

Togo Suganami, twice a winner last year, was third ahead of Hibiki Taira and Reiji Hiraki.

Kakunoshin Ohta was the surprise poleman for race two, but ended up missing his gridslot and was required to start from the pitlane. This meant Sato, who qualified second, was handed the pole position advantage up front.

At the start he held off Atsushi Miyake, with Nonaka and Suganami slotting in behind. Suganami took third later on in the lap, while Sato started to pull away up front until the safety car was called out after Ohta crashed into?Daisuke Watanabe on his rise back up the order.

Sato handled the restart well, but was swiftly informed he was to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping the start. HFDP driver Miyake inherited the lead, and then held off an attacking Suganami through the closing laps to take his first win in just his third race in cars.

Nonaka finished third, putting him level with Suganami at the top of the standings, with Sato in third place after finishing race two in 20th and taking fastest lap.

Results round-up [pole in bold, fastest lap in italics]

The post F4 round-up: Chinese field supports F1’s 1000th race, Sulaiman dominates in Mexico, drama in Japan appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Scuderia Martiga EG

Moises de la Vara put in a dominant performance at Monterrey to win the 2017-18 NACAM Formula 4 title with one round to go.

The Scuderia Martiga EG driver won all three races and is now 90 points clear of his nearest rival Igor Fraga, with only 75 points on offer in the last three races in Mexico City.

His championship prize, a ticket to the 2018 Mazda Road to Indy Shootout, is not guaranteed though due to a drug-related ban he is serving in America.

de la Vara secured a lock-out of wins, while Fraga had to make do with a fourth and fifth place. A triumphant de la Vara posed on the podium holding a broom to represent his clean sweep.

Fraga was lucky to have scored any points at all, as it was only down to the heroics of his mechanics that he got on track in the first place. Despite posting some table-topping times in free practice, he was unable to start race one due to a serious turbo problem.

He picked up enough points in races two and three to cement his second place in the championship, an unassailable 88 points ahead of Michael Santos.

Martiga EG had drafted in extra drivers for the weekend, the best of which was Kory Enders, who normally races in USF2000. The American posted two seconds and a third place. The team also ran Chara Mansur and Francisco Porto, who are both rookies. Porto took the fastest lap in the first race.

Noel Leon Vasquez was another new face in the championship, driving for Ram Racing. The inexperienced Vasquez had an impressive debut with two podium finishes. He was particularly strong in the second race and got within two second of de la Vara. He was deputising for Santos, who was in Germany negotiating a future sponsorship deal.

Emiliano Jauregui and Inigo Leon were the only other series regulars on duty at Monterrey. Leon had secured a seat with Prop Car alongside Fraga, after the dramatic departure of his former team MomoF4 after the Yucatan meeting. Jauregui continued in his role as RAM?s second driver.

Results
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Moises de la Vara Scuderia Martiga EG 24m17.768s
2 Kory Enders Scuderia Martiga EG +5.972s
3 Noel Leon Vasquez Ram Racing +9.775s
4 Inigo Leon Prop Car Racing +29.430s
5 Emiliano Jauregui Ram Racing +48.197s
Ret Chara Mansur Scuderia Martiga EG
Ret Francisco Porto Scuderia Martiga EG
Pole: de la Vara, 1m11.042s
Fastest Lap: Porto, 1m11.567s

Race 2 (20 laps)
1 de la Vara 25m24.320s
2 Vasquez +1.876s
3 Enders +10.365s
4 Igor Fraga Prop Car Racing?+25.876s
5 Porto +29.349s
6 Leon +29.720s
7 Jauregui +31.778s
8 Mansur +1m01.031s
FL: de la Vara, 1m11.276s

Race 3 (20 laps)
1 de la Vara 25m04.320s
2 Enders +1.963s
3 Fraga +7.537s
4 Vasquez +16.689s
5 Leon +25.572s
6 Jauregui +26.465s
7 Mansur +1 lap
8 Porto +1 lap
P:
FL: de la Vara, 1m11.925s

Championship Standings
1 de la Vara 361? ?2 Fraga 271? ?3 Alexandra Mohnhaupt 184? ?4 Michael Santos 183? ?5 Leon 163? ?6?Jauregui 151? ?7 Santiago Lozano 97? ?8 Enders 51? ?9 Vasquez 45? ?10 Mariano Martinez 44

The post Moises de la Vara crowned NACAM F4 champion with triple win at Monterrey appeared first on Formula Scout.