MILLVILLE, N.J. (July 31, 2022) – Lochie Hughes secured his third Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) win of 2022 at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) on Sunday morning. After a stewards’ decision overturned his victory yesterday, Hughes rebounded to win the race with more than a 3-second margin over Bryson Morris (No. 39 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4).
“That definitely was not a boring race; it felt like forever that Bryson was right behind me within attacking distance,” said Hughes after climbing from his car. “I knew I couldn’t make any mistakes. That’s a tough point because they can attack and make mistakes and nothing happens to them, but as soon as you make a mistake, they’re on you. The first few laps were very tough, and then we were finally able to just bridge the gap. From then on, it was pretty smooth sailing.”
Setting the fast lap of yesterday’s race on his Hankook Tires, Hughes once again secured the pole position for Race 2. The Australian jumped to the point position with a clean start in the No. 6 Jay Howard Driver Development / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / Pelican Ligier JS F4, but Morris was never far behind. In fact, Morris spent the first half of the race within a second of Hughes, but as the clock ticked down Morris started to see his teammate Ryan Shehan (No. 66 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) in the rearview mirror. Having already climbed from his sixth-place starting position, it looked like Shehan may get a run at his teammate for the second position with less than five minutes left on the clock. However, just like that, Morris found the extra push he needed to reopen the gap, and the three crossed the finish line in the same order they had run since before the halfway point – Hughes, Morris, Shehan.
Alex Berg narrowly missed the podium with his fourth-place finish in the No. 08 Doran-Kroll Competition Ligier JS F4. Rebounding from a tough race 1, Noah Ping rounded out the top five in a fifth-place result in his No. 65 Velocity Racing Development JS F4.
A full run-down of the official results from Race 2 are available, here.
F4 U.S. will wrap up their New Jersey SpeedTour weekend later today with Race 3 at 1:40 p.m. ET. Before lights out, spectators are invited to join the F4 U.S. drivers on the pre-grid for a fan walk at 1:10 p.m. For updates throughout the weekend, follow F4 U.S. on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates, or use Race Monitor to follow live timing and scoring.
Photos by Gavin Baker Photography.
