Formula Regional Americas, F4 US, the Ligier Junior Formula Championship and Japanese F4 also raced – albeit with interruptions – on August’s busiest weekend in junior single-seater motorsport. We review the action from Asia and North America.

By Feeder Series

Yesterday, we covered the action from the regional-level and national-level junior single-seater championships that raced this past weekend in Europe. Today we do the same for four series in Asia and North America.

FR Americas, F4 US and LJFC all made their annual mid-summer trip to New Jersey Motorsports Park. Each of the three series, however, had their third races cancelled following an incident on track in an Sportscar Vintage Racing Association race Sunday morning that damaged the guardrail and retaining posts at the circuit. Details on what caused the incident were not released, and the usual Sunday stream for SVRA was not made public.

Japanese F4 also held two races at Fuji, though only five laps were run in the first race, which was affected by an oil spill for one car. The second race ran to its full distance and featured a lively battle for the podium places. Keep reading to find out how it played out.

1. FRegional Americas: Ribeiro extends points lead as Ambiado wins both races on track
2. F4 US: Shipman sails to two wins as Popow loses race two podium
3. Ligier Junior Formula Championship: Irazú sweeps both races in New Jersey in truncated schedule
4. Japanese F4: Sato sweeps second round at Fuji, takes championship lead

FRegional Americas: Ribeiro extends points lead as Ambiado wins both races on track

Bruno Ribeiro extended his lead at the top of the FRegional Americas standings after the fifth round of the season. Title rival Nicolás Ambiado won both the first and second races on track, but a penalty he received for colliding with Ribeiro in race one handed the Brazilian the race victory and a crucial advantage in the drivers’ championship.

Though Ribeiro and Ambiado were the main talking points of the weekend, Jett Bowling stole the headlines at first. He took pole for race one by 0.019 seconds over Ribeiro and held off the Brazilian at the start to maintain the lead. Ribeiro then fell to fourth at Turn 5 after making contact with Ambiado at the apex, promoting the Chilean to second and Titus Sherlock to third.

Bowling held the lead until lap 10, when Ambiado overtook him at Turn 3a to take the lead. As the Texan pitted with an issue with his brakes, the safety car came out for Barrett Wolfe’s crash at Turn 2 on lap 12.

The race restarted five minutes to go, but it was almost immediately neutralised when Brady Golan hit the back of Connor Roberts and stopped on the main straight with damage. With that, the race came to an end after 16 laps, with Ambiado winning ahead of Ribeiro and Jake Pollack, who took his maiden podium in the series. Post-race, however, Ambiado was given a 30-second penalty for causing a collision, demoting him to fifth behind Ribeiro, Pollack, Sherlock and James Lawley.

Ambiado started on pole for race two and held on to it despite early attacks from Bowling. The safety car came out at the end of lap one because of the stalled car of Anthony Autiello.

Eleven minutes later, the race resumed, with Ribeiro taking second from Bowling through the first two turns as Ambiado pulled away.

Though Ribeiro closed in on Ambiado, the Chilean withstood the pressure to take his fourth win of the season, just over half a second ahead of Ribeiro and 3.852 seconds ahead of Bowling. Pollack crashed in Turn 2 on the final lap, but he was classified eighth, with Wolfe in ninth.

With the cancellation of race three, Ribeiro leads Ambiado by 11 points, while Sherlock and Bowling are tied for third, 56 points behind the Brazilian. In the teams’ standings, Kiwi Motorsport lead the way by 214.5 points over Crosslink Motorsports and 297 over Atlantic Racing Team.

Report by Marco Albertini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Jett Bowling, 1:13.274	Bruno Ribeiro, +0.019s	Titus Sherlock, +0.152s
Race 1 (16 laps)	Bruno Ribeiro, 26:37.134	Jake Pollack, +0.652s	Titus Sherlock, +0.999s
Race 2 (20 laps)	Nicolas Ambiado, 30:36.181	Bruno Ribeiro, +0.518s	Jett Bowling, +3.852s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Bruno Ribeiro, 209	Kiwi Motorsport, 459	Bruno Ribeiro, 209
P2	Nicolas Ambiado, 198	Crosslink Motorsports, 244.5	Brady Golan, 112
P3	Titus Sherlock, 153	Atlantic Racing Team, 162	Nicolas Stati, 82
P4	Jett Bowling, 153	Toney Driver Development, 133	Connor Roberts, 64.5
P5	Brady Golan, 112	Momentum Motorsports, 7	Daniel Quimby, 40
P6	Nicolas Stati, 82	Jensen, 6	Jake Pollack, 34
P7	Connor Roberts, 64.5		Alex Benavitz, 29
P8	James Lawley, 59.5		Barrett Wolfe, 25.5
P9	Daniel Quimby, 40		Lincoln Day, 11
P10	Jake Pollack, 34		Athan Sterling, 1

Read the previous round’s report here.

F4 US: Shipman sails to two wins as Popow loses race two podium

Cooper Shipman won both races of F4 US’ fourth round at New Jersey Motorsports Park, recovering from last to first in race one before making a bold move to snatch the lead in race two and eke out a 17-point margin in the drivers’ standings.

After finishing first and second in the two practice sessions, Alex Popow took pole for race one, but he wasn’t able to hold on to the lead. He lost first place to Kekai Hauanio at Turn 1, second to Demitri Nolan at Turn 2 and the remaining four positions at the Turn 3 complex as he cut across the grass.

On the following lap, just as Cooper Shipman overtook Caleb Campbell around the outside of Turn 1 for third, Nolan went wide on the exit of the same corner and crashed into the barriers, forcing the safety car to be deployed.

When the race restarted five minutes later, Shipman attempted to take the lead from Hauanio at Turn 1 but went wide and fell to fifth. A lap later at the same corner, Huerta overtook Campbell for second, and Shipman exchanged positions with Popow.

The Venezuelan regained fourth place later in the lap, but his race came to an end a few corners later when he crashed at Turn 2, bringing out the safety car.

The race resumed 10 minutes later and Huerta immediately took the lead from a sinking Hauanio, but the Chilean ran wide in Turn 2 after contact with Campbell, who took the lead.

Two laps later, Shipman, having recovered from last, overtook Campbell around the outside of Turn 1 to take the lead, which he held for the rest of the race as he won ahead of Hauanio and Campbell. The Canadian was given a 30-second post-race penalty for the contact with Huerta and was demoted to fourth, promoting Huerta to third.

Shipman started on pole for race two, but Hauanio blasted past him around the outside of the first corner to surge from third to first. Behind, Huerta went off track at Turn 8 from third place, rejoining in seventh.

On the following lap, Campbell went wide on the exit of Turn 1 and spun, causing the safety car to be deployed. The Canadian repeated the error two laps after the restart, this time hitting the Turn 2 wall and bringing out the second safety car of the race.

The race restarted nine minutes later, and Hauanio held off Shipman to maintain the lead. Having tried and failed to take back the lead around the outside of Turn 1 on the restart lap, Shipman made the move stick on his second attempt with 10 minutes left.

The Texan never looked back as he took his fourth win of the season ahead of Hauanio. Popow was penalised for moving across on Huerta at the second restart, demoting him to fourth behind the Kiwi Motorsport driver, who sustained front wing damage as a result of the manoeuvre. Race three was cancelled.

Report by Marco Albertini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Alex Popow, 1:18.884	Kekai Hauanio, +0.202s	Cooper Shipman, +0.220s
Race 1 (16 laps)	Cooper Shipman, 29:34.513	Kekai Hauanio, +1.954s	Clemente Huerta, +8.134s
Race 2 (19 laps)	Cooper Shipman, 31:05.719	Kekai Hauanio, +1.279s	Clemente Huerta, +9.233s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Cooper Shipman, 173.5	Kiwi Motorsport, 281	Cooper Shipman, 173.5
P2	Kekai Hauanio, 156.5	Crosslink Motorsports, 219.5	Kekai Hauanio, 156.5
P3	Alex Popow, 129	MLT Motorsports, 129	Alex Popow, 129
P4	Clemente Huerta, 107.5	LC Racing Academy, 97	Clemente Huerta, 107.5
P5	Caleb Campbell, 97	RASE Motorsports, 53.5	Caleb Campbell, 97
P6	Demitri Nolan, 63	Toney Driver Development, 15	Demitri Nolan, 63
P7	Ty Arbogast, 53.5	Scuderia Buell, 14	Ty Arbogast, 53.5
P8	Luke Powers, 15		Luke Powers, 15
P9	Conor Grant, 14		Conor Grant, 14

Read the previous round’s report here.

Ligier Junior Formula Championship: Irazú sweeps both races in New Jersey in truncated schedule

Champagne Racing’s Gaston Irazú won both of the Ligier Junior Formula Championship races held this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park to enter the final two rounds with a 42-point lead over Drew Szuch.

Despite being the star of the weekend in the races, Irazú was beaten to pole position by Roman Felber, who kept the lead at the start of race one ahead of Harbir Dass. The Berg Racing driver, however, was overtaken by Irazú on lap four.

As Dass fell to 11th, the Uruguayan began cutting into Felber’s lead, which went from 1.5 seconds to just over half a second by the halfway point of the race. Seven minutes later, Felber began defending in earnest from Irazú. The Ohioan initially kept the Uruguayan at bay, but a mistake with three laps to go at Turn 5 opened the door for the latter to take the lead.

From there, Irazú kept Felber at bay to take his fifth win of the season as Szuch completed the podium, while Max Mokarem and Daniel Cará rounded out the top five. Felber later received a five-second post-race time penalty for a jump start, but it did not affect his finishing position.

Irazú was on pole for race two, but he lost the lead at the start and fell to fourth as Dass went from third to first before the first corner. While Felber chased Dass, Irazú overtook Szuch for third at Turn 1 on lap five, just before a crash between Michael Fatutta and Zach Fourie brought out the safety car.

Twelve minutes later, the race resumed with Irazú taking second from Felber, who attempted to take the lead from Dass at Turn 1 but tapped him in doing so. That helped Irazú gain one more position, and he took the lead from Dass at Turn 1 three laps later.

As Irazú began pulling away, Szuch fell to fifth behind the Felber brothers, who began to battle for third. Cash Felber came out on top and overtook Dass two laps later to take second, followed by his brother three laps later on the race’s final tour.

Up ahead, Irazú took his fifth win of the season ahead of Cash Felber and Roman Felber, while Dass and Szuch completed the top five. Race three was scheduled for later that afternoon but was called off.

In the drivers’ standings, the Uruguayan extended his lead in the standings to 42 points over Szuch and 63.5 over Cará, while Roman Felber jumped from 13th to seventh in points after taking two podiums. In the teams’ standings, Champagne Racing sit on top of the board on 326 points, 72.5 ahead of Berg Racing and 199.5 ahead of Cará Origin Motorsports.

Report by Marco Albertini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Roman Felber, 1:20.459	Gaston Irazú, +0.294s	Harbir Dass, +0.296s
Race 1 (22 laps)	Gaston Irazú, 29:53.568	Roman Felber, +5.866s	Drew Szuch, +12.127s
Race 2 (18 laps)	Gaston Irazú, 31:04.828	Cash Felber, +1.531s	Roman Felber, +3.871s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Gaston Irazú, 190	Champagne Racing, 326	Gaston Irazú, 190
P2	Drew Szuch, 148	Berg Racing, 253.5	Cash Felber, 111.5
P3	Daniel Cará, 126.5	Cará Origin Motorsports, 126.5	Beckham Jacir, 65
P4	Cash Felber, 111.5	Scuderia Buell, 91	Roman Felber, 57
P5	Harbir Dass, 105.5	LC Racing Academy, 68	Max Mokarem, 57
P6	Beckham Jacir, 65	Momentum Motorsports, 58	Ava Hanssen, 53
P7	Roman Felber, 57	Ava Hanssen Racing, 53	Augusto Paschetta, 36
P8	Max Mokarem, 57	Kiwi Motorsport, 24	Zach Fourie, 31
P9	Pablo Benites, 55	Jensen, 11	Michael Fatutta, 12
P10	Ava Hanssen, 53	Crosslink Motorsports, 5	Kelsey Pinkowski, 5

Read the previous round’s report here.

Japanese F4: Sato sweeps second round at Fuji, takes championship lead

Kageyama Racing’s Itsuki Sato took his second and third wins of the Japanese F4 season in round two at Fuji. With those results, he overtook Toyota junior Tokiya Suzuki in the drivers’ standings to lead by 19.5 points.

Sato set the fastest and second-fastest times in qualifying to take pole for both races. B-Max Racing’s Kotaro Shimbara lined up second for both races, 0.158 seconds and 0.224s behind Sato, while Ryo Shirasaki finished third, separated from teammate Sato by 0.329s on his best lap and 0.373s on his second-best attempt. 

The first race on Saturday afternoon only awarded half points after the red flag came out on the opening lap. TGR-DC’s Masana Muto leaked oil, which created an oil trail covering the racing line from the entry of Turn 1 to the exit of Turn 2.

Nonetheless, Sato held the lead until the red flag came out, while Shimbara remained in second and Shirasaki third despite being attacked by B-Max’s Syo Momose in Turn 1.

As the race time was not stopped under the red flag, less than 10 minutes remained when the safety car returned, and green-flag conditions resumed with just under five minutes to go. Sato got up to speed early in the third sector and kept his lead safe before the safety car was called for a collision between Independent Class drivers Tadakazu Kojima and Makio Saito at Turn 1.

The race never resumed, with Sato winning ahead of Shimbara and Shirasaki. With just five of 14 laps completed, amounting to less than 75% of the original race distance, half points were awarded. 

Shimbara won the start of the second race, jumping from second to first approaching Turn 1. Sato dropped to second with Shirasaki following in third. 

Shimbara couldn’t keep his lead for long, though, as Sato attacked him around the outside of Turn 1 on the second lap. Sato stayed alongside Shimbara and had the inside line for Turn 3, which helped him grab the lead. 

Shimbara then spent the rest of the lap defending against Shirasaki’s attacks at Turn 4, Turn 6 and Turn 10. 

Shimbara caught up to Sato again on lap three and attacked him into Turn 10, without success. That opened the door for Shirasaki to close and attack Shimbara again around the outside at Turn 1 and Turn 3 on lap four, but the Kageyama driver stayed behind. 

It turned out to be Shirasaki’s final chance. The positions remained unchanged for the remaining 10 laps, and Sato took his second win of the weekend, finishing 2.281s ahead of Shimbara and 4.902s ahead of Shirasaki. 

Suzuki, who came into the round as championship leader, only collected six points after finishing seventh in the second race and 26th in the first. He had crossed the line sixth but received a 40-second time penalty for violating safety car regulations. 

In the Independent Class, “Dragon” won both races and took over the championship lead from “Kentaro”.

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying, Champion Class	Itsuki Sato, 1:46.341	Kotaro Shimbara, +0.158s	Ryo Shirasaki, +0.329s
Qualifying, Independent Class	“Dragon”, 1:48.050	Tadakazu Kojima, +0.422s	Nobuhiro Imada, +0.467s
Race 1 (5 laps)	Itsuki Sato, 30:48.379	Kotaro Shimbara, +1.717s	Ryo Shirasaki, +2.052s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Itsuki Sato, 24:59.454	Kotaro Shimbara, +2.281s	Ryo Shirasaki, +4.902s

Standings	Champion Class		Independent Class
	Drivers	Teams	Drivers	Teams
P1	Itsuki Sato, 80.5	Kageyama Racing, 91.5	“Dragon”, 72.5	B-Max Racing Team, 90.5
P2	Tokiya Suzuki, 61	TGR-DC RS, 61	“Kentaro”, 72.5	Field Motorsport, 72.5
P3	Tosei Moriyama, 57	B-Max Racing Team, 57	Isao Nakashima, 58	Rn-sports, 69
P4	Ryo Shirasaki, 51.5	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team, 51	Nobuhiro Imada, 57	Buzz Racing, 45
P5	Kotaro Shimbara, 35	Ponos Racing, 41	“Ken Alex”, 45	Akiland Racing, 38
P6	Ryota Horachi, 35	Drago Corse, 16	Makio Saito, 38	Helm Motorsports, 23
P7	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 33	Helm Motorsports, 4	William Sakai, 22	Bionic Jack Racing, 14
P8	Syo Momose, 32	Team 5Zigen, 2	Masayuki Ueda, 19	Eagle Sports, 14
P9	Ayato Iwasaki, 23	TGM Grand Prix, 1	Masayoshi Oyama, 18	Team 5Zigen, 6
P10	Ryuma Sato, 13	Akiland Racing, 1	“Ikari”, 14	Dr.Dry Racing Team, 3

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography