Marco Alquicira wins from eighth in wild NACAM F4 opener at Queretaro

Photo: Copa Notiauto

Santinel Racing Team’s Marco Alquicira took a remarkable NACAM Formula 4 victory from eighth on the grid in the opening race at Queretaro.

Diego de la Torre was fastest in a wet qualifying, setting the pace by just 0.026 seconds over David Cardenas. Third-placed Arturo Flores was over a second off pole, with Esteban Rodriguez 1.501s back in fourth and Pedro Juan Moreno 1.786s behind in fifth.

Points leader Cristian Cantu qualified sixth, but was 2.414s off the pace, and Julian Diaz was 9.064s slower than de la Torre down in 10th place. Adan Ibarra and Moy Zagursky did not set any laps but both were allowed to race to complete a 12-car grid.

The track was still wet when race one began on Saturday, and grooved tyres was the way to go. It was a green flag rather than starting lights that signaled the race start, and Rodriguez bogged down and fell to the back while de la Torre led into the first corner.

At the end of lap one there was already 2.5s between the top two, with Cantu up to third and Alquicira also making up three spots to sit fifth while several drivers pitted to change tyres on the drying track.

Cantu took second place on lap three and Alquicira rose to third a lap later, but neither had an answer to de la Torre who was 10s clear by lap seven and already lapping people.

Alquicira started pressuring Cantu on lap 13 of 27, as the pair began to close in on the leader. Lapped traffic helped their cause, with de la Torre only 2.2s ahead by lap 21. A lap later it was 0.7s, and Cantu made a diving move to take first place.

On the lap after that Alquicira dived down the inside of the uphill turn three hairpin for second, and he started chasing Cantu once more. On lap 25 he squeezed through late in the lap, then he had to resist Cantu into turn one nexy time by. They lapped Moreno, who then helped Alquicira secure the win by passing Cantu on the last lap to ‘unlap’ himself.

Alquicira won by 1.478s, with de la Torre 2.516s further back in third.

David Cardenas held fourth until being passed by Alexandra Monhaupt on lap seven, and then Dewey Richards and Zagursky also got past. They only took a lap to then both pass Monhaupt, who was promoted back up to fifth on lap 13 when Zagursky headed to the pits to retire.

Rodriguez had pitted at the end of lap one after his awful start and he stayed there for a long time. He returned to track mid-race, but could only do five laps in total before he returned to the pits once more and retired.

Race result (27 laps)