Teddy Musella won the inaugural round of the Ligier JS F4 Series, a new stepping stone from karts to race cars in the Parella Motorsports Holdings (PMH) open-wheel ladder system, Saturday at NOLA Motorsports Park. The 14-year-old Musella (No. 25 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4) started the race from the pole position and held off challenges from his competitors to lead every lap en route to the checkered flag.
Musella faced his biggest challenge from Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N.E.Where Transportation / New’T Racing Ligier JS F4), who pulled side by side with Musella during a lap-six restart. Unable to complete the pass, Hauanio made contact with another competitor a few laps later, which damaged his wing and forced him to pit for repairs. With Hauanio removed from contention, other drivers were looking to get in the mix while fighting for a spot on the podium.
Maite Cáceres (No. 6 Abitab/Supermatch Ligier JS F4) started the race in the sixth position, and had quietly worked her way up to fourth by the race’s halfway point. At a restart on lap nine, she was able to overtake two additional competitors to move into second.
Bacon Zelenka (No. 45 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) was also able to capitalize on the misfortune of those in front of him and moved into third with just a few minutes left on the clock. Behind him, Christopher Parrish (No. 83 Save22 Ligier JS F4) had raced from his 10th-place starting position all the way up to fourth, with Pablo Benites Jr. (No. 44 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4) and Brad Majman (No. 95 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) battling behind him for the fifth position. Majman ultimately finished fifth on the official results, as Benites was issued a five-second time penalty for a false start without an advantage gained.
Hauanio wins Race 2
With a pass coming to the white flag, Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N.E.Where Transportation / New’T Racing Ligier JS F4) won a thrilling Race 2 for the Ligier JS F4 Series at NOLA Motorsports Park. Returning to the cockpit of a first-generation Ligier JS F4 race car for a second season, Hauanio’s victory marks the first of his career, and only his third podium finish in the car.
Teddy Musella (No. 25 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4) led the field down the starting grid, but Hauanio pulled side by side with Musella heading down the frontstretch and overtook the lead as they swept through Turn 1. From there, the 17-year-old focused on opening a gap and pulled a second-and-a-half ahead of the field as the race neared the halfway point.
Meanwhile, fourth-place starter Maite Cáceres (No. 6 Abitab/Supermatch Ligier JS F4) was strategically working through the field. The Uruguay native moved up to third on the opening lap, and into second by the completion of the fourth lap. Keeping her focus forward, Cáceres continued chipping away at the lead, narrowing the gap to less than a second with just over three minutes left on the clock. She cut another half-second by the next time they passed the start/finish line and pulled to the outside of Hauanio as she entered Turn 1. Set with the preferred line as they raced through Turn 2, Cáceres completed the pass and pulled away with the lead.
Later that same lap, as they raced toward the white flag, Cáceres spun in Turn 15 and Hauanio slipped past to regain the lead. From there, it was clear sailing to the checkered flag for Hauanio.
Musella was fourth with less than two minutes left on the clock, but was able to make his way around Bacon Zelenka (No. 45 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) to overtake third and slid past Cáceres as she collected herself and headed to the white flag. As the checkered flag waved, it was Hauanio, followed by Musella and Cáceres rounding out the top three.
“The first race this morning was not to our liking, but we got it done in the second one today,” Hauanio said. “[Maite] caught up to me, but we’re going to make some setup changes because it was a little off. We’ll come back tomorrow and hopefully get the win.”
Ligier JS F4 wraps up its race weekend tomorrow with Race 3 at the NOLA SpeedTour at 10:20 a.m. CT. All feature races will be available to stream on the SpeedTourTV YouTube page.
Comments