JHDD signs Noda for F4 U.S. Championship

The Jay Howard Driver Development team has signed 14-year-old Juju Noda to race for the team in the Formula 4 U.S. Championship series. The daughter of former Formula 1 driver Hideki Noda showed her potential in 2020 while competing in the Danish F4 championship where she won on her debut. It led to a step up in competition by joining JHDD in the deep F4 field run by Parella Motorsports Holdings.

“Last summer was the first time Juju did a test with us, and the long-term plan was to get her to come here and race F4, so we’ve been doing testing at a lot of tracks, and she’s definitely quick,” Howard told RACER.

The Briton, who made his last NTT IndyCar Series start in 2018 at the Indy 500, was impressed by the teenager’s speed and composure.

“At a lot of our tests, we have multiple cars running, and at one, I put on a little mock race with our four drivers, and she was aggressive―a lot more than expected―and raced well,” Howard said. “I’ve nothing but good things to say about her. It’s one thing for young drivers to be quick on their own, but to be good at wheel-to-wheel racing is not always their strong suit in the beginning, and she seems switched on.

"I have high hopes for her. I’m honored to have Hideki choose me and our program to take her to the next stage.”