After 13 podium finishes this season, Cooper Becklin finally broke through to earn his first-career win in Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) on Sunday morning. At the same track as his FR Americas debut two years ago, Becklin climbed from a fourth-place grid position to climb atop the podium after one runner-up and 12 third-place finishes this season. Callum Hedge had the opportunity to clinch the 2023 Drivers Championship title in Sunday’s race, but an on-track incident eliminated him from contention and ensured the championship battle would carry forward to the season finale at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Becklin lined up fourth on the grid, but moved into third after Westling went off track in Turn 1. From there, he set his sights on Shehan. Right on Shehan’s gearbox as they completed the first lap, Becklin drove in deep as they entered Turn 4 on the second lap to overtake the second position. Meanwhile, Hedge had opened up more than a two-second lead.
With 19 minutes left on the clock, smoke appeared out the back of Hedge’s car as he exited Oak Tree Bend, and by the time he got to the top of the Roller Coaster, he made contact with the tire barrier. A full-course caution ensued before Hedge made his way back down pit road to the attention of his crew. With a broken front wing and rear suspension damage, it appeared that a slight off at Oak Tree caused the terminal damage that forced Hedge to retire from the event. The misfortune allowed Becklin to inherit the lead, and Shehan to move back into second.
With green flag conditions returning just a few minutes later, Becklin sailed on to the checkered flag with Shehan in tow. Westling and Hayden Bowlsbey (No. 22 Save 22 Ligier JS F3) once again duked it out for the third position. After contact between the two derailed their efforts in race one of the weekend, Bowlsbey came out ahead in a clean battle in today’s race to claim his first-career FR Americas podium. Westling settled for fourth and Nicole Havrda (No. 6 Valley Kitchens / Farrow / Colonial Countertops / Hardwoods / Road to Racing / Fast Time Ligier JS F3) rounded out the top five.
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After earning his first win in 39 FR Americas starts, Becklin was awarded the Omologato Perfectly Timed Move of The Race and was presented with a bespoke timepiece.
“This feels amazing,” said Becklin after climbing from the car. “We worked all season. We’ve been fast enough almost every weekend, and it’s finally worked out in our favor. We saved a set of tires, and the team worked really hard to get this car working to race pace. It worked out great, and now we’re on the top step.”
FR Americas will decide its champion next month in the season finale at Circuit of The Americas, November 2-4.
Jesse Lacey earns first-career F4 U.S. win at VIR
Jesse Lacey ran away from the field to claim his first-career win in Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) competition on Sunday morning at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR). After setting the fast lap in race two, the Australian paced the field from lights out all the way to the checkered flag.
Lacey had opened up a 3.269s gap by the completion of the first lap, while Patrick Woods-Toth found himself in an intense battle with Michael Costello (No. 19 Jay Howard Driver Development / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4), Alex Berg (No. 08 MySim.ca / Rohde & Liesenfeld / Easy Drift / Penn Elcom Online / Dae Systems Ligier JS F4) and Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N.E. Where Transport Ligier JS F4). Costello was the first one to make it around Woods-Toth, taking the second position from the Canadian in Turn 3 on the second lap; then, just one lap later, Berg took the third position while entering Turn 1, and Hauanio moved into fourth while racing through Turn 4—all leaving Woods-Toth back in the fifth position. Just like Berg’s pass on Woods-Toth in Turn 1, he looked to make a similar move on Costello the following lap, but the two locked wheels, eliminating both drivers from contention.
As the clock ticked down, Lacey continued to pace the field while Hauanio followed in second after inheriting the position following Berg and Costello’s misfortune, but Woods-Toth was never far behind in third. As the race neared its halfway point, Woods-Toth was finally close enough to make a run at Hauanio’s New’T Racing machine. Making a run on his Hankook Tires on the inside as they raced toward Turn 1, the points leader completed the pass. The two continued to race nose to tail until Hauanio had another chance to make a run at Woods-Toth—this time in the Uphill Esses with just seven minutes left on the clock.
Overtaking second, Hauanio was starting to take a look at the leader when a late-race full-course caution slowed his forward progression. When the checkered flag waved, Lacey led the field across the line, followed by Hauanio in second and Woods-Toth in third.
“I had a good start,” said Lacey after climbing from the car. “My main goal was just to try to keep the gap and make as few mistakes as possible. It was getting quite close at the end, but I was lucky that I was able to hold them off.”
F4 U.S. will also decide its champion next month in the season finale at Circuit of The Americas, November 2-4.