Carl Bennett secured his first Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) win in the season-opening race at NOLA Motorsports Park on Saturday afternoon. Kicking off his second season in F4 U.S., the result marked Bennett’s first-career podium finish in the series.
“This is my first win with formula cars, and that was just amazing,” said Bennett from the podium. “That was quite the battle that I had on the last lap. I’m still a little breathless right now. Just an amazing day.”
Michael Costello (No. 19 Jay Howard Driver Development / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4) left the starting grid from the first position, but an incident on first lap relegated him to the seventh position by the time the field came back around to complete lap 1. Meanwhile, Daniel Cara (No. 10 Tenuta Foppa & AmbrosiLigier JS F4) rolled off from the seventh position, but he quickly climbed his way up to second with a strong start off the line. By lap 3, Cara took over the lead and paced the field for three laps before contact and a spin in Turn 2 took him out of contention.
Through all of the chaos, Bennett drove a steady race in his No. 9 Gonella Racing Ligier JS F4. After starting third, the driver climbed to second by the third lap, before passing Frankie Mossman (No. 6 JHDD / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4) on a restart to overtake the lead on lap 9. With pressure from both Patrick Woods-Toth (No. 27 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) in second and Titus Sherlock (No. 31 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) in third, Bennett continued to hit his marks to lead the trio across the finish line.
READ MORE: Race 1 Official Results
F4 U.S. returns to the track tomorrow for Race 2 at 9:05 a.m. CT, followed by Race 3 at 1:50 p.m. CT. Follow the championship on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or use Race Monitor to follow live timing and scoring. This weekend’s races are streaming free at YouTube.com/SpeedTourTV.
WATCH THE STREAM: F4 U.S. Race 1 at NOLA
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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