Home Formula 4NACAM F4 Pedro Juan Moreno becomes NACAM F4 champion at Puebla

Pedro Juan Moreno becomes NACAM F4 champion at Puebla

by Ida Wood

Photo: Copa Notiauto

Pedro Juan Moreno sealed the NACAM Formula 4 title in the penultimate round at Puebla’s Autodromo Miguel E. Abed.

Saturday consisted of two practice sessions, two qualifying sessions and one race. Shifter karter Ivanna Richards was the surprise pacesetter in both practice sessions, having only got a first taste of single-seaters via an F4 test at Jerez in Spain a few weeks ago.

Her best lap of 1m36.317s in FP2 put her 0.325 seconds ahead of Moreno, with Cristian Cantu a further 0.092s back and Alex Berumen 0.989s behind in fourth.

Moreno returned to his usual place at the top in qualifying, setting a 1m35.863s in the first session to lead the way by 0.745s over Cantu. Richards was third fastest, but 1.146s off the pace.

An idential laptime put Moreno on top again in Q2, and this time with a gap of 0.601s to Richards in second place. Cantu was 0.745s behind in third, and Arturo Flores was 1.011s slower than Moreno in fourth.

Moreno cut to the inside line at the start of race one, as Richards passed Cantu for second. The top three quickly broke away, but three became one when Richards spun at turn one on lap two and Cantu got swallowed up by the pack, dropping into third between Moy Zagursky and Flores.

He did not waste time in getting back past Zagursky, but by the end of lap four was six seconds behind Moreno. Julian Diaz crashing out then meant the safety car led the field until lap 10.

Moreno made a great restart to sprint away, but two laps later was being pressured by Cantu and further back Flores was hassling Zagursky.

On the penultimate lap Cantu made a great switchback move in the first full infield section of the lap, and Moreno tried running alongside him until they got to the next infield section but could not keep his lead.

Cantu pulled away to win by 2.225s, and remarkably Richards recovered to third after being seventh with three laps to go. Flores finished fourth, and Zagurksy was a distant 11th.

Moreno sought redemption in race two, and was successful in doing so as he beat David Cardenas and Estban Rodriguez to victory. Cantu was fifth. Race three went the way of Cantu, but it was not enough to keep the title fight going.

Richards stalled from third on the grid, and Cantu trailed Moreno before getting on the inside of him on the banking and taking the lead. Moreno thought about a pass at turn one on lap three but instead lost second to Flores at turn two.

He tried regaining the place on lap four and failed, and a lap later Richards – who had dropped to fifth and got herself into fourth – spun out. The safety car appeared for two laps, and on the restart Rodriguez passed Moreno for third.

Moreno got back past on the banking next time by, with Cardenas pulling off the same move a lap later to demote Rodriguez to fifth. Cantu comfortably won, and Flores resisted late attacks from Moreno to finish second.

Results round-up
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Cristian Cantu RE Racing 30m44.844s
2 Pedro Juan Moreno Ram Racing +2.225s
3 Ivanna Richards Zapata +8.064s
4 Arturo Flores International Motorsport +9.828s
5 David Cardenas Ram Racing +12.090s
6 Esteban Rodriguez RE Racing +16.077s
7 Alex Berumen Ram Racing +18.653s
8 Daniel Forcadell Morelia Racing Team +20.325s
9 Marco Alquiciria Santinel Racing Team +1m11.233s
10 Juan Contreras Morelia Racing Team +1m43.527s
Pole: Moreno, 1m35.863s
Fastest lap: Cantu, 1m35.694s

Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Moreno 32m14.545s
2 Cardenas+0.538s
3 Rodriguez +0.762s
4 Flores +1.310s
5 Cantu +2.031s
6 Berumen +2.729s
7 Moy Zagursky Ram Racing +3.242s
8 Richards +3.412s
9 Julian Diaz Morelia Racing Team +1 lap
10 Contreras +1 lap
FL: Cantu, 1m36.000s

Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Cantu 30m04.538s
2 Flores +2.498s
3 Moreno +2.815s
4 Cardenas +13.054s
5 Rodriguez +15.343s
6 M Alquicira +31.320s
7 Forcadell +33.686s
8 Diaz +53.520s
9 Eduardo Alquicira Santinel Racing Team +1m13.234s
10 Contreras +1m44.751s
P: Moreno, 1m35.863s
FL: Moreno, 1m35.621s

Championship standings
1 Moreno 364   2 Cantu 300   3 Cardenas 224   4 Flores 177   M Alquicira 144   6 Rodriguez 112   7 Diaz 110   8 Zagursky 66   9 Alexandra Monhaupt 56   10 Berumen 47