Photo: Photography Yoss Yoss
There were three different winners in the latest NACAM Formula 4 round at Queretaro.
Pedro Juan Moreno led Cristian Cantu by 0.43 seconds in practice, then Cantu struck back in qualifying with a 1m00.019s lap that earned him pole over Moreno by 0.11s. Manuel Alquicira was third fastest, 0.596s off the pace.
Race one followed on Saturday, and the top two of Cantu and Moreno almost instantly gapped themselves from the rest of the field.
Alquicira was already 10s behind after six laps, and he sat just ahead of a gaggle of cars fighting for fourth.
Alex Berumen soon brought the battle closer to Alquicira, and on lap nine he made two attempts at diving moves and on the second cleared Alquicira. Julian Diaz, who qualified ninth and had been gradually working his way up the order, followed Berumen past Alquicira and they were not 17s off the lead.
Alquicira was demoted to fifth by Esteban Rodriguez on lap 17 of 27, and he cleared Diaz on lap 20. Diaz fell back behind Alcquicira a lap later, but gained back a place as Cantu headed to the pits and his eight-second lead was lost.
Moreno now had an 11s lead over Berumen, which he maintained to the finish.
Diaz and Alquicira shared the race two front row on Sunday, and after some battling on lap one it was Diaz who had the advantage up front.
He was 2.3s clear by lap five, but the gap was under a second on lap 11 and a lap later Alquicira got past. Berumen was eight seconds behind in third, but the safety car appeared on lap 13 due to Artie Flores crashing out.
Racing resumed on lap 16 and Berumen took the lead after going side-by-side with Berumen for several corners, while Diaz was shuffled to fourth.
But the top two then collided and Berumen was spun off, meaning the safety car appeared again.
The next restart was on the penultimate lap and Cantu went to take the lead. Alquicira just managed to hold on, and won, while Diaz got by Cantu into second.
Cantu took race three pole ahead of Moreno, and they were super close through the first six laps of the race. Cantu then started to gap himself, and was almost three seconds clear by the race’s halfway point. From then on, Moreno’s focus was on keeping Rodriguez behind but his defensive work then helped Berumen catch up to them.
Berumen passed Rodriguez on lap 20, and although he briefly got back ahead he could not stay there. Moreno had not escaped them, and in the remaining laps they ran nose-to-tail while Cantu cantered to victory by 13.786s.
Results round-up
Race 1 (27 laps)
1 Pedro Juan Moreno Ram Racing 28m54.838s
2 Alex Berumen Ram Racing +10.265s
3 Esteban Rodriguez RE Racing +11.770s
4 Marco Alquicira Santinel Racing Team +26.583s
5 Julian Diaz Morelia Racing Team +27.656s
6 David Cardenas Ram Racing +28.064s
7 Arturo Flores International Motorsport +32.657s
8 Juan Contreras Morelia Racing Team +1 lap
9 Cristian Cantu RE Racing +2 laps
Ret Moy Zagursky Ram Racing
Pole: Cantu, 1m00.019s
Fastest lap: Cantu, 1m01.451s
Race 2 (22 laps)
1 Alquicira
2 Diaz +0.928s
3 Cantu +2.133s
4 Rodriguez +3.064s
5 Cardenas +5.083s
6 Moreno +5.521s
7 Zagursky +6.167s
8 Flores +6.249s
Ret Contreras
Ret Berumen
FL: Diaz, 1m01.138s
Race 3 (27 laps)
1 Cantu
2 Moreno +13.786s
3 Berumen +14.482s
4 Rodriguez +15.0
5 Zagursky +32.886s
6 Flores +33.651s
7 Cardenas +40.199s
8 Diaz +50.926s
9 Eduardo Alquicira Santinel Racing Team +1m43.
10 Conteras +2 laps
P: Cantu
FL: Moreno
Championship standings
1 Moreno 306 2 Cantu 240 3 Cardenas 184 4 Flores 135 5 M Alquicira 134 6 Diaz 104 7 Rodrigues 79 8 Zagursky 60 9 Alexandra Monhaupt 56 10 Diego de la Torre 39