Mac Clark, Lochie Hughes victorious in Round 1 of FR Americas and F4 U.S. competition at NOLA Motorsports Park

Clark Wins at NOLA Motorsports Park in his FR Americas Series Debut

AVONDALE, La. (April 9, 2022) – Mac Clark made his Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) debut at NOLA Motorsports Park on Saturday afternoon, and he did it in winning fashion. The 18-year-old Canadian took the lead in his No. 25 Future Star Racing Ligier JS F3 on the first lap, and led all the way to the checkered flag in a race that stayed green from start to finish.

Raoul Hyman was also making his FR Americas series debut and qualified on the pole in the No. 27 Bethesda Holdings Limited / Solomon Capital Enterprises / Oaklands / Kinross Ligier JS F3 for TJ Speed Motorsports, but it was Clark who was quick off the line. Clark overtook Hyman before they reached the first turn and never looked back.

The remainder of the top five, Dylan Tavella (No. 14 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3), Nico Christodoulou (No. 22 Velocity Racing Development Ligier JS F3), and Jason Alder (No. 77 TJ Speed Motorsports Ligier JS F3) held their respective position all the way from lights to checkers.

“It feels amazing,” said Clark as he climbed out the car. “To come to the championship and win the first race with a brand new team—and me being a rookie in the series—I just want to give so many thanks to Future Star Racing. Mr. and Mrs. McAlister, thank you so much for believing in me. I didn’t know who was going to be fast all race. I actually made a really good jump off the line like we’ve been practicing, and from there it was just keeping my head down and hitting my marks.”

FR Americas will take to the track for Rounds 2 and 3 of their NOLA SpeedTour event weekend tomorrow. Race 2 starts at 8:30 a.m. local time. A fan walk will proceed Race 3 at 11:50 a.m. local time, with lights out scheduled for 12:30 p.m.

View the full field provisional race results, here: FR Americas Round 1 Official Results

Hughes Wins in First-Career F4 U.S. Start at the NOLA SpeedTour

AVONDALE, La. (April 9, 2022) – Lochie Hughes won the opening race of the 2022 Formula 4 United States Championship presented by Honda (F4 U.S.) season on Saturday afternoon at NOLA Motorsports Park. The Gold Coast, Australia native avoided chaos in the closing laps to secure his first series’ win in his first F4 U.S. race.

Matt Christensen (No. 45 Velocity Racing Development) was in the point position for lights out at NOLA with teammate Noah Ping (No. 65 Velocity Racing Development Ligier JS F4) trailing. By lap 3, a battle for third ensued as Bryson Morris (No. 39 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport JS F4) and Hughes put the pressure on Ping. Ping dropped to fourth, where he stayed until the caution flag waved on lap 8. Subsequently, the field restarted the event on lap 11 where Ping took the lead with a strong restart, and pushed Christensen back to second, followed by Hughes and Morris.

On lap 13, contact in Turn 5 between the No. 65 of Ping and teammate Christensen in the No. 45 removed both cars from contention. Hughes sailed by on Hankook tires as the caution flag waved and went on to lead the field to a yellow-checkered finish.

“I’m pretty happy,” exclaimed Hughes as he climbed from the car. “We got a little bit lucky there, but we were catching them. It was a bit of a crazy race—especially that restart going in to [Turn] 1. I didn’t know what was going to happen. Everyone was locking up and almost crashing, but I’m really happy to take the win. I can’t thank the boys at Jay Howard Driving Development enough. Hopefully we can continue this on.”

F4 U.S. will take to the track for Rounds 2-3 of their NOLA SpeedTour event weekend tomorrow. Race 2 starts at 10 a.m. local time, followed by Race 3 at 1:50 p.m.

View the full field provisional race results, here: F4 U.S. Round 1 Official Results