Popow takes first F4 U.S. win at COTA, Musella wins in JSF4

Alex Popow dominated in Formula 4 United States Championship at Circuit of The Americas on Thursday. The 18-year-old Venezuelan American led practice, took the pole in qualifying, and led the race from flag to flag to earn his first-career win in his F4 U.S. series debut. The victory marked the first F4 U.S. win for MLT Motorsports, which expanded to a two-car team for the season finale at COTA.

After entering the weekend with a 5.5-point margin, Nicolas Stati extended his points lead with a runner-up finish in Race 1.

With his third-place result, Connor Roberts extended his podium streak to five consecutive races. Since Round 8 at NJMP, Roberts has earned one win, two second-place results and two third-place finishes.

Three teams were represented on today’s podium with MLT Motorsports earning their first win, Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport finishing second and Team Roberts Racing taking third.

After earning the pole earlier in the day, Popow led the field down the front stretch for a two-by-two rolling start. Next to him was Alex Crosbie (No. 41 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F422), while the second row was filled with championship rivals Stati (No. 15 AGI Sport Ligier JS F422) and Daniel Quimby (No. 24 Cruise America / MIR Raceline / FIJI Airways / GalvanizeIns Ligier JS F422).

As the green flag waved, Popow immediately jumped ahead of the field, while Stati overtook second. With a great start from fifth, Roberts (No. 46 ApexSpeed.com / Entropy Cellars Ligier JS F422) climbed into third by the completion of the first lap, as Crosbie dropped to fourth and Quimby (No. 24 Cruise America / MIR Raceline / FIJI Airways / GalvanizeIns Ligier JS F422) to fifth.

In an all-green race, Popow made consistent, quick laps, setting a new track record in his Ligier JS F422 and opening up nearly a three-second lead as the race approached its halfway point. During the closing laps, Stati steadily chipped away at the gap, picking up a full second during the race’s final 10 minutes. Despite his best efforts, Stati was unable to get close enough to make a run at the lead and instead had to settle for second while Popow sailed away to his first-career victory.

As they crossed the line, Popow led, followed by Stati in second and Roberts in third.

“This is incredible,” said Popow. “We’ve been fighting all year to get a proper ride and it finally came to fruition here with MLT at COTA. It's incredible to sweep the day -- P1 in practice, quali and to take the race win—it’s just awesome. It’s definitely special to win here, especially after F1 was here just a week ago. My dad used to race here and he won here around 2014, so it’s so cool to be able to come back here and win myself.”

F4 U.S. will contest Race 2 at COTA today at 3:55pm CT. A live stream of the event will be available at YouTube.com/SpeedTourTV,

RESULTS

Musella wins, takes points lead in JSF4 Race 1 at COTA

Teddy Musella dominated Race 1 for the Ligier JS F4 Series (JS F4) at Circuit of The Americas on Thursday afternoon. Leading the race from flag to flag in an all-green event, Musella (No. 25 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4) crossed the line with an 18.485-second margin over second-place finisher, series newcomer, Leonardo Escorpioni (No. 26 Champagne Racing Ligier JS F4).

After securing the pole during qualifying Thursday afternoon, Musella led the field down the front stretch as the green flag waved at COTA. To his outside was Sacha van’t Pad Bosch (No. 27 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4), who was making his JS F4 race debut. Close racing at the drop of the green flag saw van’t Pad Bosch racing three wide with Leonardo Escorpioni (No. 26 Champagne Racing Ligier JS F4) and Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N.E.Where Transportation / New’T Racing Ligier JS F4) into the tight left-handed Turn 1 with Bacon Zelenka (No. 45 Bacon Racing Ligier JS F4) hot on their tracks. The scuffle led to a spin for van’t Pad Bosch, and by the completion of the first lap, Escorpioni settled into second with Hauanio trailing in third.

Hauanio, however, with a championship on his mind and Musella out front, kept his focus forward. Continuing to apply pressure to Escorpioni, Hauanio completed the pass as they exited Turn 20 to complete the third lap. With over six seconds separating the two championship rivals, both drivers did their best to hit their marks, with Hauanio hoping to chip away at the lead and Musella working to maintain the gap. The race behind them saw Escorpioni, Zelenka and Brad Majman (No. 95 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) all jockeying for the third position.

With a green race all the way through, Musella led the field as they raced past the waving white flag. Hauanio had cut the gap down to approximately five seconds, but as they raced through the final turns, Hauanio’s car suddenly lost power and came to a complete stop mere yards from the finish line. As they reached the checkered flag, Escorpioni made the pass to move into second, with Zelenka following in third after getting around Majman on the final lap of the race. Maite Cáceres (No. 6 Abitab / Supermatch Ligier JS F4), who had started the race in eighth, crossed the finish line in fourth with van’t Pad Bosch battling back to complete the top five.

A series of post-race stewards’ decisions carried implications, not just on the finishing order of the race, but potentially in the championship battle, too.

After reviewing the last-lap exchange between Majman and Zelenka, the Stewards determined that contact was made between the two cars in Turn 1 and again in Turn 3, ruling Zelenka as wholly responsible. As a result, it was determined that Zelenka would finish behind Majman on the final results, dropping him to 13th in the finishing order. Also reviewing the first lap incident with van’t Pad Bosch in Turn 1, the Stewards ruled that Zelenka was wholly responsible for the incident after causing nose-to-tail contact. As a result, Zelenka was suspended for the remainder of the event.

The Stewards also reviewed contact between Hauanio and Escorpioni during the final two laps. In both instances, the Stewards determined that Hauanio was wholly responsible for the collisions. As such, Hauanio will begin Race 2 from the Pit Lane.

“Today was a great experience,” said Musella. “After a very hard race in New Jersey in the last round, to come here and dominate like this is such a relief. I’m in the championship lead now, so we just have to defend it for the last two rounds of the weekend. I don't have to chase it; I can be more lenient and not worry about winning every race -- if someone’s being super aggressive and it's not Kekai [Hauanio], I don’t have to risk my race for it. I'm in control of the championship now.”

JS F4 will contest Race 2 at COTA today at 3:55pm CT. A live stream of the event will be available at YouTube.com/SpeedTourTV,

RESULTS