In the final weekend of the F4 U.S. Championship, Noel Leon held onto his points lead and took the championship while Jason Alder and Nico Christodoulou won rounds 16 and 17 respectively at Circuit of the Americas.
Christodoulou was set to start on the pole for race one, but a penalty saw him start from the pit lane as Leon led the field to green. Alder, who started fourth, worked his way to the lead by the backstretch before a caution was thrown that brought the field back together. Alder maintained his lead after going through turn one three-wide, and from there pulled away to win.
Leon finished in second behind his title rival Alder, while 15-year-old Illinois native Christian Weir drove to an impressive third place to claim his second F4 U.S. podium in just four starts. After starting in the pit lane Christodoulou finished the race in sixth place, mathematically knocking him out of the championship hunt.
This left Leon, Alder and Mac Clark as the three title hopefuls heading into the final race, all starting together from third to fifth, with Christodoulou on the pole. The Canadian polesitter went on to win the race, with Leon second ahead of Clark. Alder was unable to work up the order like his fellow championship contenders, finishing sixth.
Leon finished with a 6.5 point gap to Clark in the championship, earning the Mexican the driver’s championship in his first season in F4 U.S. Velocity Racing Development, the team Leon drives for, also took home the team championship, wrapped up at the last event at Virginia International Raceway in September.
Emily Linscott, who chronicled her time in F4 U.S. here at The Checkered Flag, did not compete at COTA, but finished twenty-third in the championship with four points.
The 2022 F4 U.S. Championship season will begin on 8-10 April as the series visits NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, Louisiana for the very first time. Until then, congratulations to Noel Leon and Velocity Racing Development on their championship victories this season!
