INDIANAPOLIS (May 25, 2016) – The start of the Formula 4 United States Championship powered by Honda series has been pushed back due to continued delays in manufacturing, SCCA Pro Racing has announced.
The F4 U.S. Championship is scheduled to have its inaugural race weekend July 1-3 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Previously, the series was to kick off June 10-12 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey.
Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations require a minimum of 12 cars for each championship event. The car count for FIA regulations would have been met, however, the manufacturing schedule had only allotted one car per team.
Teams like JDX, a race team from Colorado with three drivers entered in the series, have multiple drivers, meaning that competitors would have had to share cars or sit out the entire race weekend.
“The decision to postpone the race was a decision we ultimately made in consultation with the team owners and partners,” said Derrick Walker, SCCA Pro Racing President and CEO. “After talking to each team owner individually, the consensus was that they didn’t want to even consider New Jersey if each driver was not yet able to compete due to the late arrival of race cars. All the teams are supportive of the decision. We appreciate the loyalty they have shown us and want to do this right.”
Debuting the F4 U.S. Championship at Mid-Ohio means the course will now feature two race weekends for the series. Mid-Ohio was already scheduled to host the F4 U.S. Championship on Aug. 12-13.
“There’s no question Mid-Ohio is a classic road course as it is ideally suited for our F4 U.S. Championship race cars and provides all the challenges our drivers need,” Walker said. “Scheduling the debut for July allows time for the additional orders to be fulfilled so all teams and drivers can compete.”
Adding the F4 U.S. Championship to the Mid-Ohio schedule in July has opened-up the series to race with three other formula series that it would not have had the chance to otherwise. Fans will now be able to watch the F1600 Formula F Championship, the F2000 Championship, the Atlantic Championship Series and the F4 U.S. Championship during the Fourth of July weekend. All four divisions are sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing.
“It’s going to be an absolutely great weekend,” Formula Race Promotions co-owner Al Guibord said. “Open wheel fans are going to see all levels of cars from the new F4 U.S. Championship to the pinnacle Atlantic Championship. Our series has been racing at Mid-Ohio for a decade now. The history and pedigree of the track makes exciting opportunity for our drivers and the F4 competitors.”
The F4 U.S. Championship will reschedule the race slated for New Jersey Motorsports Park at a track and date to be determined to maintain a five-event championship series, which is required by FIA regulations.
For more information on the SCCA Pro Racing F4 U.S. Championship, visit F4USChampionship.com.
