CHARLOTTE (August 22, 2024) – It’s that time of year again when the drivers of Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas), Formula 4 United States Championship (F4 U.S.), and Ligier JS F4 Series (JS F4) must soon trade in their helmet bag for a bookbag as they head back to school. Balancing life as both a racecar driver and student is nothing new to the group, with over 70% of the F4 U.S. and JS F4 fields juggling work on the track and in the classroom, and nearly half of the FR Americas field doing the same.
With schools resuming across the country, our drivers are also headed back to the classroom.
Pablo Benites Jr. (No. 44 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F422), Lincoln Day (No. 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS F422), Athan Sterling (No. 2 JENSEN Ligier JS F4), Parker Wallin (No. 2 JENSEN Ligier JS F4) and Rafal Wolosz (No. 27 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4) all kick off their senior year of high school this fall, while Jake Pollack (No. 1 JENSEN Ligier JS F4) starts his junior year, Teddy Musella (No. 25 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4) begins 10th grade, and Cash Felber (No. 1 FLBR Motorsport/Fly Alliance/BYOB/PMC Ligier JS F4) and Roman Felber (No. 2 FLBR Motorsport/Fly Alliance/BYOB/PMC Ligier JS F4) continue their homeschooling. On the other side of the globe, Brad Majman (No. 95 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) is in Year 9 at Caulfield Grammar School, while Daniel Quimby (No. 24 Cruise America / MIR Raceline / FIJI Airways / GalvanizeIns Ligier JS F422) continues his studies at Clancy Catholic College.
Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N.E.Where Transportation / New’T Racing Ligier JS F4) and Nicole Havrda (No. 6 Valley Kitchens Ltd / Colonial Countertops Ltd Ligier JS F3) both get to enjoy a little down time this fall, as Hauanio completed his GED just before the season began, and Havrda earned her diploma in June. Other members of the Class of 2024 include Justin Garat (No. 17 Speed Factory Ligier JS F3), who now looks to study business, and Nicolas Ambiado (No. 55 LIQUI MOLY Ligier JS F3), who plans to study commercial engineering.
Meanwhile, Maite Cáceres (No. 6 Abitab / Supermatch Ligier JS F4) finished a course on Marketing and Sports Sponsorship over the summer, but the Uruguayan is headed back for more, beginning her studies in finance at Miami Dade College this fall. In Texas, Jett Bowling (No. 02 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) and Christopher Parrish (No. 83 IGY6 Motorsports / Save22 Ligier JS F4) both begin their sophomore year of college, with Bowling majoring in Engineering at Texas A&M University, while Parrish studies business and marketing at Blinn College. Bacon Zelenka (No. 45 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) is about halfway through his coursework to earn a degree in Aeronautics at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. An hour away, Drew Szuch (No. 28 Szuch Racing Ligier JS F4) embarks on his sophomore year, splitting time between Purdue University-Indianapolis to study motorsports engineering and Indiana University-Indianapolis to study business. In Georgia, both Connor Roberts (No. 46 ApexSpeed.com / Entropy Cellars Ligier JS F422) and Harbir Dass (No. 23 Berg DMG Racing Ligier JS F4) will be entering their junior year of university, with Roberts studying business management and accounting at LaGrange College, and Dass pursuing mechanical engineering with an automotive concentration at Georgia Institute of Technology. Barrett Wolfe (No. 13 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F422), another junior, continues his coursework at University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where he’s majoring in marketing, while James Lawley (No. 77 Kartbahn Racing Ligier JS F3) studies business management at Acadia University.
These student-athletes have just a few weekends left where they’ll need to balance life on and off the track this fall. Both FR Americas and F4 U.S. return to action next week at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) for the CTMP Labor Day Weekend Sprints, August 29-September 1. Then, all three championships will be reunited at Circuit of The Americas, October 31-November 3, for the season-finale COTA SpeedTour. Tickets for that event are available now on SpeedTour.net/Austin.