Photo: US F4
United States Formula 4 and Ligier JS F4 Series attracted seven and 12 cars respectively for their races this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
AGI Sport’s Nicolas Stati set a 1m18.680s in US F4 qualifying to take pole by 0.199 seconds over Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport’s Alex Crosbie, with Atlantic Racing Team’s Daniel Quimby 0.584s behind in third.
Team Roberts Racing’s Connor Roberts caused flags so had his only laptime deleted, and MLT Motorsports’ Lincoln Day also had his fastest lap deleted after failing to respect the chequered flag procedure.
Drivers went three-wide on the rolling start to race one, and Benites swept around the outside of the top three qualifiers at turn one to take the lead and he immediately pulled away.
However by lap four he had been reeled back in by Stati and Crosbie, and Stati overtook Benites around the outside of turn one on lap five. Crosbie did the same a lap later.
Crosbie was next to lead, pasing Stati at turn two halfway through the race but losing the spot two corners later before regaining it again two corners after that. They ran closely thereon, and Crosbie won.
Benites finished a distant third on-the-road but failed to meet the minimum weight, so was demoted to fifth.
Stati set the fastest lap, earning him race two pole, and he built a 1.4s lead in the early laps. Benites went off at turn one on lap five and lost third to Quimby, later reclaimed the spot, then fell behind again mid-race and was lapping two seconds slower than the top three after that. Victory went to Stati by 2.945s.
Crosbie had race three pole, but threw away his advantage by going off at turn two on lap two. Benites inherited the lead ahead of Quimby, with Roberts briefly holding second on lap lap six before making a pass on Quimby stick on lap 11.
He then pursued Benites, who five minutes before the finish was sent spinning off as his rear-left wheel detached itself. The remaining laps ran behind the pace car, and Roberts won.
The sister Ligier JS F4 Series for older cars attracted 12 drivers, and Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport’s Kekai Hauanio set a 1m20.288s to take pole by 0.221 seconds over team-mate Brad Majman.
It was Majman who had the upper hand in race one, leading home Hauanio by 5.507s. Teddy Musella was 18.326s back in third, with Harbir Dass finishing fourth.
Majman prevailed again in race two, this time by 3.942s. Dass completed the podium, 15.437s behind, and Crosslink’s Demitri Nolan was fourth.
A good start from pole put Majman in the lead at the start of race three, but a diving move from Hauanio at turn one on lap two demoted him to second.
He sat right behind Hauanio until a mid-race caution period caused by Athan Sterling crashing out, and on the restart he and Musella went around the outside of Hauanio at turn two.
Majman pulled away for a third win as Hauanio tried to reclaim second, eventually doing so with a forceful turn one move.
Results round-up
US F4
Race 1 (24 laps)
1 Alex Crosbie Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport 30m41.642s
2 Nicolas Stati AGI Sport +0.490s
3 Barrett Wolfe Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +14.386s
4 Connor Roberts Team Roberts Racing +40.752s
5 Pablo Benites Jr Scuderia Buell +14.385s
Ret Lincoln Day MLT Motorsports
Ret Daniel Quimby Atlantic Racing Team
Pole: Stati, 1m18.680s
Fastest lap: Stati, 1m18.864s
Race 2 (23 laps)
1 Stati 30m36.475s
2 Crosbie +2.945s
3 Quimby +19.443s
4 Benites +42.241s
5 Wolfe +1m05.805s
6 Roberts +1m09.474s
Ret Day
FL: Crosbie, 1m18.905s
Race 3 (21 laps)
1 Roberts
2 Quimby +0.307s
3 Stati +0.542s
4 Crosbie +1.024s
5 Wolfe +1.426s
Ret Benites
Ret Day
FL: Roberts, 2m17.039s
Championship standings
1 Stati 156 2 Quimby 125 3 Crosbie 110 4 Roberts 106 5 Benites 94 6 Wolfe 73 7 Day 48