Joshua Car extended his United States Formula 4 points lead with a dominant display at Mid-Ohio.
Prior to practice getting underway on Thursday afternoon, two test sessions were held. The extra track time was particularly valuable for Liam Snyder, who was making his debut with Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport.
In qualifying it was DEForce Racing?s Guilherme Peixoto who took his first pole position, just 0.089 seconds ahead of Car. Nicky Hays had been in contention for the front row, but a red flag put a halt to proceedings. After the track was cleared the session was extended by two minutes, and Hays dropped to seventh.
Car then lost his front row start to a five-place grid penalty carried over from the last round. Christian Brooks and David Porcelli also received five-place grid penalties for causing a collision.
Race 1onetook place just two hours after qualifying concluded, with Kiko Porto taking his third win of the season.
Peixoto and Porto made a good start and soon built up a lead of more than two seconds over Wyatt Brichacek and Hays. By lap eight Peixoto?s tyres were fading and Porto took over at the front.
Meanwhile Car was on a charge from seventh on the grid and closed up on Peixoto and Hays, whilst bringing along team-mate Arthur Leist.
At times Porto, Hays and Car were three wide, but Porto held his line. Car moved into second after Hays? car got loose on a dirty part of the track. Porto held on to beat Car by 0.243s, with Hays taking his first podium in third.
On Friday afternoon, Car took a controlling race two win. A Full Course Yellow was deployed early on, and Car made a good restart as Hays, Peixoto and Brooks carved through the field in just two laps to close the gap.
Relief came for Car with two minutes remaining with another FCY, and the race ended behind a safety car. Hays and Peixoto completed the top three. In only his second race, Snyder finished in sixth place.
Race three was yet another lights-to-flag win for Car, but his rivals didn?t make it easy. The Australian made a good start until a FCY, caused by Jose Blanco-Chock getting stuck in the grass, brought his charge to a halt. Car pulled away at the restart as Hays was challenged for second by Brooks, Peixoto and Porto.
A second FCY was deployed and the race resumed with two minutes to go. Peixoto went around the outside of Brooks for second but was unable to hold the position, leaving Car to take the win by just over one second. Dylan Tavella beat Porto by 0.5 seconds for fourth place. On the last lap Hays was forced wide and spun at Turn 2, but recovered to finish in 15th.
Results round-up
Race 1 (21 laps)
1 Kiko Porto DEForce Racing 30m42.632s
2 Joshua Car Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +0.243s
3 Nicky Hays DC Autosport with Cape Motorsports +2.609s
4 Guilherme Peixoto DEForce Racing +2.922s
5 Arthur Leist?Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +4.173s
6 Wyatt Brichacek Jay Howard Driver Development +9.380s
7 Michael d’Orlando Velocity Racing Development +10.327s
8 Christian Brooks Jay Howard Driver Development +12.120s
9 Jose Blanco Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +12.256s
10 Christian Bogle Jay Howard Driver Development +21.340s
Fastest lap: Car, 1m26.351s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Car 30m45.466s
2 Hays + 0.324s
3 Peixoto +0.743s
4 Brooks +1.064s
5 Brichacek +1.512s
6 Liam Snyder Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +2.033s
7 Blanco + 2.590s
8 Ryan MacDermid Alliance Racing +3.387s
9 Porto +3.972s
10 Chandler Horton Alliance Racing +4.589s
FL: Car, 1m27.432s
Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Car 30m48.956s
2 Brooks +1.069s
3 Peixoto +1.887s
4 Dylan Tavella Alliance Racing?+2.970s
5 Porto +3.407s
6 d’Orlando +3.772s
7 Horton +3.828s
8?Hayden Bowlsbey?Jay Howard Driver Development +4.586s
9?Sicheng Li?Primus Racing +4.955s
10?Robert Soroka?Jay Howard Driver Development +5.618s
FL: Car, 1m27.918s
Championship standings
1?Car 242? ?2 Porto 171? ?3 Brooks 128? ?4 Leist 126? ?5 Blanco 100? ?6 Peixoto 79? ?7 Wilson 69? ?8 Tavella 50? ?9 Hays 41? ?10 Brichacek 38