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