Photo: NACAM F4
Ram Racing’s Zaky Ibrahim became NACAM Formula 4 champion in the Formula 1-supporting season finale in Mexico City on October 24-26.
His points lead had been reduced in round five at Autodromo Miguel E. Abed on September 19/20, where the Alessandros Racing team had a notable pace advantage.
Its drivers locked out qualifying’s top three places, with Alejandro Bobadilla claiming race one pole by 0.326 seconds over Fernando Luque. Jose Martinez was 0.451s behind in third, and Ibrahim was 0.451s off pole in fourth.
Drivers’ second-best laptimes set race three’s grid, and Bobadilla pipped Luque to pole by 0.022s. Martinez was third, 0.204s off pole, and Ibrahim was fourth.
Bobadilla had his mirrors filled by his team-mates through race one, but held them off to win. Luque attacked him a lot mid-race, then later on Bobadilla built a one-second gap.
Ivanna Richards made it an Alessandros 1-2-3-4, and Ram’s Alan Zezatti and Ibrahim were distanced in fifth and sixth. Zezatti therefore had pole for the reversed-grid race two, and he kept the lead at the start. Martinez squeezed into second, and Ibrahim gained ground while Bobadilla had a mechanical that required pitting.
Martinez overtook Zezatti at the end of lap two, profiting from a mistake that sent Zezatti behind Richards too. The leader then stretched his legs, as Zezatti fell down further and Richards initially came under attack before creating her own gap. Luque completed the podium after a lengthy defence against Ibrahim.
Bobadilla had race three under control at first, with Luque initially preoccupied by keeping Martinez behind before being able to prioritise chasing winner Bobadilla later on.
Ibrahim, Zezatti and Elias Vignola were fighting behind Martinez, and at one point Zezatti and Vignola went off while squabbling. Richards sought to take advantage, but was sent off after the Ram Racing drivers rejoined and her exit from the asphalt was permanent.
At Mexico City, NACAM F4’s drivers were given the responsibility of being first out on track on Friday morning and sweeping dust off its surface during their 25-minute practice session.
It was still dusty a day later when the longer qualifying session took place, and 2024 championship runner-up Helio Meza marked his return with pole. He set a 1m46.336s to beat United States F4 runner-up Alex Popow by 0.172 seconds.
Bobadilla was 0.511s off pole in third, and just 0.004s ahead of Luque, and points leader Ibrahim was a further 0.14s back in fifth.
Race one was on Saturday, and it did not immediately go to plan for Meza as he lost the lead to Bobadilla. However he was back ahead by lap two, then pulled away to win the 14-lap encounter by 6.452s.
Bobadilla lost place after place once he had conceded the lead and eventually finished a distant seventh, the last finisher as team-mates Popow and Martinez failed to make the start and RRK Motorsports’ Emil Abed was disqualified.
Luque finished second, and Ibrahim was several seconds further behind his title rival in third.
The season-ending race two was the next morning, and Alessandros’s Luque, Meza and Bobadilla locked out the podium. Martinez and Popow also finished ahead of Ibrahim, but his sixth place was enough to be crowned having won six races this year.
Results round-up
Puebla race 1 (15 laps)
1 Alejandro Bobadilla Alessandros Racing 21m29.716s
2 Fernando Luque Alessandros Racing +1.141s
3 Jose Martinez Alessandros Racing +1.489s
4 Ivanna Richards Alessandros Racing +2.940s
5 Alan Zezatti Ram Racing +8.202s
6 Zaky Ibrahim Ram Racing +9.978s
7 Fernando Rivera Ram Racing +22.083s
8 Oliver Trejo Ram Racing +28.786s
9 Elias Vignola Ram Racing +31.969s
10 Max Mora Ram Racing +49.923s
Pole: Bobadilla, 1m24.482s
Fastest lap: Bobadilla, 1m24.635s
Puebla race 2 (15 laps)
1 Martinez 21m25.749s
2 Richards +3.150s
3 Luque +3.610s
4 Ibrahim +8.626s
5 Vignola +10.978s
6 Rivera +21.657s
6 Trejo +21.952s
8 Mora +55.335s
9 Zezatti +1m14.023s
10 Bobadilla +1m17.613s
FL: Luque, 1m24.506s
Puebla race 3 (15 laps)
1 Bobadilla 21m16.379s
2 Luque +0.228s
3 Martinez +1.146s
4 Ibrahim +6.754s
5 Zezatti +19.181s
6 Vignola +20.331s
7 Rivera +26.752s
8 Trejo +59.529s
9 Mora +1m17.237s
Ret Richards
P: Bobadilla, 1m24.805s
FL: Bobadilla, 1m24.355s
Mexico City race 1 (14 laps)
1 Helio Meza Alessandros Racing 25m01.971s
2 Luque +6.452s
3 Ibrahim +11.177s
4 Zezatti +18.026s
5 Vignola +26.391s
6 Rivera +35.637s
7 Bobadilla +41.634s
DSQ Emil Abed RRK Motorsports
DNS Alex Popow Jr Alessandros Racing
DNS Martinez
P: Meza, 1m46.636s
FL: Meza, 1m46.253s
Mexico City race 2 (14 laps)
1 Luque 25m09.235s
2 Meza +0.364s
3 Bobadilla +1.273s
4 Martinez +1.903s
5 Popow +2.776s
6 Ibrahim +3.298s
7 Zezatti +12.837s
8 Vignola +13.954s
9 Rivera +18.309s
10 Abed +1m01.450s
FL: Luque, 1m46.615s
Championship standings
1 Ibrahim 256 2 Luque 250 3 Bobadilla 218 4 Martinez 210 5 Vignola 123 6 Zezatti 123 7 Marco Alquicira 115 8 Mora 73 9 Rivera 52 10 Popow 50