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