AUSTIN, Texas (November 1, 2024) – Teddy Musella dominated Race 1 for the Ligier JS F4 Series (JS F4) at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) 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).
Notes of Interest:
- Teddy Musella earned his fourth win of the season. The Scuderia Buell driver is now tied with his championship rival, Kekai Hauanio, for the most wins this season.
- Leonardo Escorpioni earned his first-career podium in his series debut. The result also marked the first-career podium for his Champagne Racing team, who is also making their JS F4 debut at Circuit of The Americas this weekend.
- Maite Cáceres returned to the podium for the first time since Round 8 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Her third-place finish marked her fifth podium of the season.
- Three teams were represented on today’s podium after Scuderia Buell won the race, Champagne Racing finished second and International Motorsport earned third.
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.
READ MORE: Race 1 Official Results
“Today was a great experience,” said Musella after climbing from the car. “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 3:55 p.m. CT. A live stream of the event will be available at YouTube.com/SpeedTourTV, with live timing and scoring accessed on the Race Monitor app. Additional news and updates will be posted on the series’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.