Photo: Photography Yoss Yoss
Pedro Juan Moreno extended his unbeaten run in NACAM Formula 4 to seven races with three wins in Mexico City this weekend.
The Ram Racing driver was fastest in both practice sessions, and his best effort of a 1m53.739s put him 0.568 seconds ahead of team-mate Arturo Flores and 0.961s ahead of Santinel Racing Team’s Marco Alquicira.
His advantage shrunk in qualifying, as a 1m53.248s put him on pole for race one by 0.271s over team-mate David Cardenas. Alquicira was 0.582s back and the only other driver within a second of the pace.
The opening race took place later on Friday, and Moreno dominated. In just 14 laps he pulled out a gap of 25.25s over nearest opponent Cantu, who had a few seconds in hand over Cardenas.
Everyone else was over 40s behind the winner, with the closest battle being for fifth place as Dewey Richards beat Moy Zagursky to the position by just 0.264s.
The top five were reversed to form the grid of race two on Saturday, but it took only a handful of corners for Moreno to blast through into the lead and race away again.
A caution period cut his lead back down to nothing, and on the restart Cantu attacked Moreno. He could not quite relieve him of the lead, and in the remaining laps Moreno pulled away again – despite “some mechanicla problems” to win by 2.079s. Flores and Cardenas finished third and fourth.
Moreno only had Cardenas to navigate at the start of race three, rather than having four cars ahead of him, but it was actually Cantu who he spent most of lap one battling with.
That continued into lap two, until Moreno eventually established himself ahead on lap three. From then on he had a clear pace advantage, winning by 12.946s as Cardenas shadowed Cantu to the chequered flag.
Last month there was a big announcement about NACAM F4’s future, with confirmation that the first-generation Mygale chassis the series currently uses will be retired at the end of this season and all teams will run Tatuus’s second-generation F4 chassis from next year onwards.
The Tatuus T-421 features the halo cockpit protection device, and was adopted by many European series last year.
Results round-up
Race 1 (14 laps)
1 Pedro Juan Moreno Ram Racing 26m21.952s
2 Cristian Cantu RE Racing +25.250s
3 David Cardenas Ram Racing +28.213s
4 Arturo Flores Ram Racing +40.119s
5 Dewey Richards Richard Motorsport +49.436s
6 Moy Zagursky Ram Racing +49.700s
7 Julian Diaz Morelia Racing Team +1m04.602s
8 Apolo Madrigal RE Racing +1m15.070s
9 Eduardo Alquicira Santinel Racing Team +1m56.091s
10 Juan Contreras Morelia Racing Team +1m56.698s
Pole: Moreno, 1m53.248s
Fastest lap: Moreno, 1m52.654s
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Moreno 30m24.008s
2 Cantu +2.079s
3 Flores +3.899s
4 Cardenas +4.305s
5 Zagurksy +6.769s
6 Diaz +7.243s
7 Madrigal +9.942s
8 Contreras +17.929s
9 E Alquicira +23.253s
Ret Marco Alquicira Sanintel Racing Team
FL: Moreno, 1m53.669s
Race 3 (14 laps)
1 Moreno 26m31.616s
2 Cantu +12.946s
3 Cardenas +13.643s
4 Zagursky +27.984s
5 Flores +29.484s
6 Diaz +35.614s
7 Madrigal +1m04.609s
8 Contreras +1m45.155s
Ret M Alquicira
Ret Richards
FL: Moreno, 1m52.660s
Championship standings
1 Moreno 255 2 Cantu 198 3 Cardenas 160 4 Flores 117 5 M Alquicira 97 6 Diaz 72 7 Alexandra Monhaupt 56 8 Zagursky 44 9 Esteban Rodriguez 40 10 Diego de la Torre 39