Formula Regional Americas

Race 1

In a dramatic Race 1 for Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) at the Andy Scriven Memorial weekend at the Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour, Jason Alder brought home the victory to score his second win of the 2022 season in a race that stayed green the entire way on Saturday morning.

With below-normal temperatures this morning, the race director opted for a rolling start rather than the series’ traditional standing start. Pole sitter Raoul Hyman (No. 27 Bethesda Holdings Limited / Solomon Capital Enterprises / Oaklands / Kinross Ligier JS F3) initially jumped out to the lead, but contact as he drove into Turn 1 sent the driver spinning and relegated him toward the back of the field. Jason Alder (No. 77 Drive for Diabetes Awareness / HAKUN Ligier JS F3) initially inherited the point position before Mac Clark (No. 25 Future Star Racing Ligier JS F3) overtook him in the Hog Pen to officially lead the first lap. With less than 15 minutes remaining in the race, Clark dropped a wheel while racing through Turn 3, which allowed Alder to once again inherit the lead and he never looked back.

Nick Persing (No. 29 OPI Commercial Builders Ligier JS F3) was consistent throughout the race, running in Alder’s tire tracks. When the checkered flag waved, he was initially scored in second, but a post-race penalty resulted in a 30-second penalty, which relegated him to a seventh-place finish.

Ryan Yardley (No. 78 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) secured his fourth podium finish of the season.

The real drama was in the points battle as championship point leader Hyman had to fight through the field following his incident on lap one. Dropping as low as ninth, Hyman had made it as high as the fifth position before another off-track excursion left him in the Turn 11 tire barrier and unable to cross the finish line. Meanwhile, Dylan Tavella (No. 14 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3), who entered the weekend second in points, was scored with a third-place result following Persing’s penalty.

“I knew that the conditions this morning would be quite difficult with the track being so cool,” said Jason Alder after climbing from his car. “Overall, I’m super happy with the result. Our car strategy is looking great for the rest of the weekend. We didn’t put a new tire on, so we’re looking good for Race 2 and Race 3 later. 

Race 2

Starting from pole in Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas), Raoul Hyman (No. 27 Bethesda Holdings Limited / Solomon Capital Enterprises / Oaklands / Kinross Ligier JS F3) made a comeback in Race 2 of the Andy Scriven Memorial at the Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour. Despite a less-than-satisfying race earlier in the day having never crossed the finish line, Hyman was still able to secure the fastest lap and pole position for Race 2.

Going into Turn 1 after lights out, Mac Clark (No. 25 Future Star Racing Ligier JS F3) was quick to challenge Hyman for the lead. However, Hyman was able to keep Clark in his rearview mirror to maintain his position. As the race progressed, Hyman pulled away from the rest of the grid, building his lead to 4.076 seconds by the checkered flag.

The battle for second was hard fought between Mac Clark, Dylan Tavella (No. 14 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3), and Jason Alder (No. 77 Drive for Diabetes Awareness / HAKUN Ligier JS F3). The three started battling for positions with 17 minutes still left on the clock, as Tavella overtook Clark into Turn 1 to move in to second. Alder was quick to put Clark back under pressure for third, as he rode Clark’s gearbox until he was able to make a move on the frontstretch. With less than 12 minutes remaining, Alder and his Hankook tires weren’t done yet. In the final minutes of the race, he overtook Tavella coming out of Turn 3 to claim the second position. Tavella rounded out the podium in third.

“The race this morning was really disappointing,” said Hyman after climbing from the car. “I’m really glad that we were able to bounce back to take the win and fastest lap, as well. I’m really grateful to TJ Speed for the cars they gave us—obviously, you see Jason [Alder] here in P2. The cars have been quick all weekend, and just great to drive. I’m really happy to be up here.”

Race 3

Raoul Hyman continued his march toward the Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) 2022 title with his second win of the weekend during the Andy Scriven Memorial at the Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour. Starting from pole, Hyman never wavered in his No. 27 Bethesda Holdings Limited / Solomon Capital Enterprises / Oaklands / Kinross Ligier JS F3, and instead led the race from lights out to checkered flag.

Hyman lined up next to championship rival Dylan Tavella (No. 14 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) for the final race of the weekend. Tavella put up a good fight, staying within a half-second of Hyman for the first four laps, before he was relegated to pit road and put a lap down before being able to return to competition.

Some of the best battles on track were those between Cooper Becklin (No. 91 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3), Ryan Yardley (No. 78 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) and Mac Clark (No. 25 Future Star Racing Ligier JS F3). The three played cat and mouse throughout the early stages of the race, until Becklin and Yardley were finally able to pull away from Clark and duke it out to the finish.

Hyman led the field to the checkered flag for his ninth victory of the season. Becklin followed in second, scoring his best career finish in FR Americas. Yardley was third for his fifth podium of the season. 

“That was tough,” said Hyman after climbing from the car. “I locked it up into Turn 13 on the first lap. We really struggled for tire temperature—even yesterday during the first laps. I knew if I could get it done on the first lap and hold position, that we would have the pace of the car to go through the rest of the race. I was pushing, and I just locked up into Turn 13. I decided to stay on the brake and hold the lock-up and get all the way in. From there, I had a massive vibration. It made every braking zone quite tricky. Really, the pace of the car—TJ Speed has done an amazing job. It’s a real privilege to be on pole, to win the race. I’m grateful to be back here.”

The next and final round of the championship will be held November 3 to 5 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

Formula 4 United States

Race 1

Ryan Shehan made a last-lap pass to take the victory in Race 1 for Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) during the Andy Scriven Memorial weekend at Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour. The victory marked Shehan’s second victory in the No. 66 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4, and the second-consecutive event that he’s kicked off the weekend with a win.

“I honestly didn’t know that was the last lap,” said Shehan following the checkered flag.  “We had the restart and I had stayed in second, but then I got a really good draft on the backstraight and I made the move. It was a bit of a hectic race, but I’m glad to come out on top.”

Shehan’s Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport teammate, Bryson Morris (No. 39 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4), led the field to green in a rolling start after a few competitors ran into trouble on the formation laps with cold tires on a brisk morning. With a solid run toward the green flag, Morris jumped out to the lead as the field made their way to Turn 1. By Turn 12, the championship points leader ran into trouble as Lochie Hughes (No. 6 JHDD / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / Pelican Ligier JS F4) suffered a broken rear suspension during contact to bring out a full-course caution.

Morris, who entered the weekend second in points, once again jumped to the lead as the green flag waved to restart the race with just a few minutes left on the clock. With Shehan trailing close behind, he was able to get a good draft and a solid run on his Hankook tires to overtake Morris coming down the backstretch, taking both the lead and the checkered flag.

Race 2

Bryson Morris scored his third Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) win of the 2022 season on Saturday afternoon during the Andy Scriven Memorial at the Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour. Entering the weekend second in points, Morris had his sights set on points leader Lochie Hughes (No. 6 Jay Howard Driver Development / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / Pelican Ligier JS F4), but Hughes only made it as far as his rearview mirror in Race 2.

Morris’ teammate, Ryan Shehan (No. 66 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4), lined up first for the standing start after setting fast lap on his Hankook Tires in the previous race. Noah Ping (No. 65 Velocity Racing Development Ligier JS F4), who rolled off second, went off in Turn 1 to fall to the back of the running order and bring out the full-course caution. With the field restacked, the action really heated up when the race restarted and gave the field another chance at jockeying for position.

With the top four coming toward Turn 1 four-wide, Andre Castro (No. 8 Future Star Racing Ligier JS F4) jumped to the lead by the time they made it through the turn. Just one lap later, Morris overtook the lead again going into Roller Coaster. With Morris solidly out front, points leader Hughes turned up the heat. After rolling off 18th, Hughes had picked up eight positions before the caution flag waved, and as the minutes ticked down, Hughes moved into the second position with less than four minutes left on the clock. 

Ultimately, it was Morris who led the field to the checkered flag. Hughes finished second, followed by Castro in third. A post-race stewards decision assessed a 30-second penalty against Castro, which gave the final podium position to Morris’ Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport teammate, Shehan. 

“It was a good race,” said Morris after climbing from the car. “It was a bit of a sketchy restart, but I was able to get by and to the lead at a good time. Then, luckily, they started battling behind me and that was enough for me to pull up a gap and just bring it home.”

Race 3

Noah Ping (No. 65 Velocity Racing Development Ligier JS F4) won his third Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) race of the 2022 season on Sunday morning at VIRginia International Raceway.

Rolling off third for Race 3 of the Andy Scriven Memorial at the Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour, Ping trailed polesitter Gabriel Fonseca (No. 76 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) and second-place starter Louka St-Jean (No. 98 Jay Howard Driver Development / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / Pelican Ligier JS F4) as the field entered Turn 1. However, when the top two starters made contact, Ping capitalized on the situation to take over the point position on his Hankook tires. The Buford, Ga., native was able to hold off advances by championship contenders Lochie Hughes (No. 6 JHDD / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / Pelican Ligier JS F4) and Bryson Morris (No. 39 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) on a restart past the halfway point.

As the field worked their way through the uphill esses on the same lap, the championship battle took a dramatic turn as Morris lost control of his Ligier JS F4 and backed into a tire barrier, which brought an early end to his day.

As they crossed the finish line, Ping was scored first, followed by Hughes in second, and Andre Castro (No. 8 Future Star Racing Ligier JS F4) in third.

“It was a bit chaotic,” said Ping after climbing from his car. “We were warned in our drivers meeting to take it safe this morning. After the safety car, there was some oil out on the track; I spun my tires when we went full-course yellow. It was right on line, so you almost had to run the wet line. The cold weather didn’t help, either. There were a lot of variables out there.”

For his efforts enduring a tough weekend at the Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour, Alex Berg was awarded the Omologato Perfectly-Timed Move of the Race at the Andy Scriven Memorial. After climbing from a 19th-place starting position in Race 3, Berg crossed the finish line fifth and was presented with a bespoke Omologato timepiece embossed with F4 U.S. branding during the podium celebrations.

F4 U.S. will return to the track for their final round of the 2022 season at Circuit of The Americas November 3-5 in Austin.

British Formula 4

Hitech GP’s Alex Dunne provisionally secured the 2022 ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA after confirmation of the results from qualifying at Brands Hatch.

Race 1

JHR Developments’ Joseph Loake made a lightning getaway and scored a comfortable victory in the opening ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA race of the weekend at Brands Hatch.

Loake, starting on outright pole position for the first time in his single seater career, made a strong getaway, and adeptly retained the lead over Gray on the run down to Paddock Hill Bend for the first time.

From there, he gradually stretched his lead over Carlin racer Gray, eventually taking the chequered flag 2.8 seconds clear to score his third win of the season.

“Obviously, that’s the sort of domination we would have wanted from the start of the year!” laughed Loake. “But we executed everything as planned, and how I knew I could, as well.

“There were a couple of hairy moments, I won’t lie, when pushing for the fastest lap. Overall, I’m really happy and hope to carry on this weekend how we’ve started it.”

“I had a good start and matched Joseph, but he’s always been good off the line,” explains Gray, who picks up an impressive 15th podium finish of the season.

“He was just ridiculously quick today. I’m happy overall with my performance and what I did. I was saving tyres towards the end, not really pushing, just cruising. I had a gap in front and a gap behind, did what I had to, got some points on the board and it’s just securing second in the championship now.”

Daniel Guinchard (Phinsys by Argenti) finished third, crucially a place ahead ahead of Ugo Ugochukwu (Carlin) in fourth, a result that thins the gap between the pair in the Rookie Cup title race to just 19 points, with 40 on offer across Sunday’s double header.

Both Guinchard and Ugochukwu moved up the order off the line as Virtuosi Racing’s Edward Pearson bogged down, then enjoying a race-long battle for the final step on the podium. Pearson got going in sixth spot, moving up to fifth ahead of Aiden Neate (Argenti) after Louis Sharp (Carlin) was forced to pull off track with a mechanical issue.

“It was a good start, a clean start, and I got up to third off the line,” recalls Guinchard. “Ugo kept me under pressure, but I managed to stay in front of him, made no mistakes and overall, I’m really happy with the result.”

The combined efforts of Gray and Ugochukwu have also ensured that Carlin wrap up a fifth British F4 Competitors’ Cup title.

Georgi Dimitrov and Noah Lisle ensured all three JHR Developments cars would score points with seventh and ninth, the pair separated by Virtuosi Racing’s Michael Shin. Adam Fitzgerald (Argenti) hounded Lisle for the majority of the race, but an opportunity to improve upon tenth spot never presented itself.

Oliver Stewart (Hitech) just missed out on points after a battling drive, the Scot leading home a brilliant three-way scrap with James Higgins (Fortec) and Jack Sherwood (Chris Dittmann Racing).

Marcos Flack took 14th in the other Fortec challenger, with Hitech duo Eduardo Coseteng and Daniel Mavlyutov, Argenti’s Isaac Barashi and Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jaden Pariat completing the finishers.

Race 2

Starting second alongside pole-sitter Shin (Virtuosi), Hitech GP racer Coseteng made the better start and powered around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend to take the lead.

From there, the gap hovered at around a second either side of a safety car interruption, before Shin renewed his efforts to wrest the lead back in the closing minutes.

He got within six tenths of the Filipino racer, but could do nothing to prevent Coseteng from taking a maiden victory in Britain’s FIA Formula 4 series.

After an overnight re-build, Louis Sharp repaid the efforts of his Carlin mechanics with the final spot on the podium in third. The Kiwi was another to demonstrate lightning-fast reflexes off the line, and powered by Georgi Dimitrov (JHR) on the run to Paddock to annex the position.

With a comfortable gap ahead and behind, Sharp settled into a rhythm and duly brought home an 11th podium finish of the campaign.

Dimitrov finished fourth, a second adrift of Sharp and a second ahead in turn of Ugo Ugochukwu (Carlin). The McLaren junior took another Rookie win in fifth overall, extending his lead-in-class over Daniel Guinchard (Argenti) to 22 points, with 25 left on offer.

Argenti’s Aiden Neate was sixth, with race one winner Joseph Loake close behind in seventh. The aforementioned Guinchard was eighth after winning out in a thrilling inter-team battle with Adam Fitzgerald, who had to settle for ninth.

Virtuosi Racing’s Edward Pearson rounded out the top ten, with Noah Lisle (JHR) triumphing over Oliver Stewart (Hitech) by three tenths of a second for 11th and 12th spots.

James Higgins (Fortec) enjoyed a titanic scrap around the 2.4-mile Grand Prix layout with Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jack Sherwood. The position switched hands several times, but eventually it was Higgins who got the move done, taking 13th.

Daniel Mavlyutov (Hitech) was next, the finishers completed by Isaac Barashi (Argenti) and Jaden Pariat (CDR), both a lap down after causing the opening lap safety car. Marcos Flack (Fortec) pitted at the end of the opening lap, and he and Ollie Gray (Carlin) were the two retirees.

Race 3

Loake made no mistake from pole position, and again had a clear lead on the run through Paddock for the first time.

His nearest challenger was Carlin’s Ollie Gray who, alongside team mate Louis Sharp, had a storming start and moved up quickly  to second and third on the road.

Try as Gray might, an opportunity to pass never presented itself. With the race slipping away, the Williams junior switched positions with third-placed Sharp, the extra points allowing the Kiwi to secure fourth overall in the standings over Loake.

The gap at the flag therefore was a slightly extended 1.9 seconds, as Loake put himself a clear second to Dunne in terms of race wins this campaign.

“It’s the best weekend we could have asked for,” admitted Loake. “Pole position, fastest lap in both races and both wins [for races set by qualifying]. I couldn’t have done much more.

“Overall, I’m pretty happy with this weekend, it’s just a real shame to miss out on fourth in the championship. At the end of the day, it is what it is, I did the most I could and that’s all I can be happy about.”

Neate was able to fend off a recovering Pearson for fourth and fifth respectively, and sixth proved enough for McLaren F1 junior Ugo Ugochukwu to wrap up the Rookie Championship.

“I’m super happy, this is exactly the weekend we needed,” grinned Ugochukwu. “I just needed to pick up the points throughout all three races, and I’m delighted to clinch the Rookie title. To solidify P3 in the overall championship was also important.

“I want to thank the whole Carlin team for the work throughout the year, and also congratulations on the Teams Cup, which shows we’ve been delivering week in, week out.”

Behind Ugochukwu, Eduardo Coseteng (Hitech), Michael Shin (Virtuosi), Noah Lisle (JHR) and Chris Dittmann Racing’s Jack Sherwood rounded out the top ten.

The wheels now begin to turn for the 2023 ROKiT British F4 season, with the championship set to head to Snetterton’s 300 circuit on 27-28 October for its New Driver Test.