Teams and drivers
|
|
The 2025 Ligier Junior Formula Championship is the second season of the Ligier Junior Formula Championship. The series was rebranded from Ligier JS F4 Series for the 2025 season. [1] The series serves as a feeder into the United States Formula 4 Championship and is sanctioned by Parella Motorsports Holdings.
During the season, drivers are provided with a Ligier JS F416 chassis powered by Honda engines and utilize Hankook tires. [2]
|
|
The 2025 calendar was announced on 27 September 2024. [9] All rounds will support the Formula Regional Americas Championship and United States Formula 4.
| Round | Circuit | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R1 | NOLA Motorsports Park, Avondale | 29 March |
| R2 | |||
| R3 | 30 March | ||
| 2 | R1 | Road America, Elkhart Lake | 15–18 May |
| R2 | |||
| R3 | |||
| 3 | R1 | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington | 19–22 June |
| R2 | |||
| R3 | |||
| 4 | R1 | New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville | 31 July-3 August |
| R2 | |||
| R3 | |||
| 5 | R1 | Virginia International Raceway, Alton | 18–21 September |
| R2 | |||
| 6 | R1 | Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham | 17–19 October |
| R2 | |||
| R3 | |||
| Round | Circuit | Pole position | Fastest lap | Winning driver | Winning team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R1 | NOLA Motorsports Park |  Daniel Cará |  Gastón Irazú | Gastón Irazú |  Champagne Racing |
| R2 | Gastón Irazú | Drew Szuch | Berg Racing | |||
| R3 | Gastón Irazú | Gastón Irazú | Champagne Racing | |||
| 2 | R1 | Road America | Gastón Irazú [a] | Drew Szuch | Drew Szuch | Berg Racing |
| R2 | Daniel Cará | Daniel Cará | Cará Origin Motorsports | |||
| R3 | Gastón Irazú | Drew Szuch | Berg Racing | |||
| 3 | R1 | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course | Gastón Irazú [b] | Gastón Irazú | Cash Felber | Champagne Racing |
| R2 | Gastón Irazú | Gastón Irazú | Champagne Racing | |||
| R3 | Beckham Jacir |  Pablo Benites Jr. | Scuderia Buell | |||
| 4 | R1 | New Jersey Motorsports Park | Roman Felber | Gastón Irazú | Gastón Irazú | Champagne Racing |
| R2 | Gastón Irazú | Gastón Irazú | Champagne Racing | |||
| R3 | Race cancelled after delays to weekend schedule | |||||
| 5 | R1 | Virginia International Raceway | Roman Felber | |||
| R2 | ||||||
| 6 | R1 | Barber Motorsports Park | ||||
| R2 | ||||||
| R3 | ||||||
The first round of the championship took place in the same venue as last year: NOLA Motorsports Park. Daniel Cará took pole for the opening race of the season after Gastón Irazú received a penalty for incorrect tire usage. [10] He was passed at the start of the race after a false start by Harbir Dass and Drew Szuch, who fought for the lead. However, Szuch's engine cover came off in lap 6, and he was forced to retire. Irazú overtook Dass for the lead on lap 8.
For race two, Irazú started on pole. Szuch overtook him with eleven minutes remaining in the race, and a safety car period to recover the car of Roman Felber meant that Irazú could not retake the lead, giving Szuch his first win in the series. [11]
Irazú was also on pole for race three, and led for the majority of the race — Max Mokarem overtook him at the start but lost the lead in the same lap. Irazú led the standings after the first round, with his team Champagne Racing leading the teams' standings. [12]
Round two took place six weeks later at Road America. Qualifying was cancelled due to lightning in the area, and the grid for race one was set by championship standings, so Irazú started from pole. Cará fought him for the lead on the opening lap, but the pair collided, dropping Irazú to seventh. He fought back through the field, finishing third behind Cará, in a photo finish with Szuch and Beckham Jacir. However, Cará was penalised for the earlier contact, giving Szuch the win. [13]
Szuch started from pole for race two, alongside newcomer Jacir, who stalled at the start. Irazú took the lead on lap three, but he locked up the following lap, handing the lead to Cará. With two minutes remaining, Szuch was spun into the pit wall by Mokarem, and the race ended under safety car. Cará took his first single-seater win with half points awarded. [13]
Cará started on pole for race three. Irazú, who started for sixth, made progress and took advantage of other drivers' errors to take the lead on lap three. He was overtaken again three laps later by Cará, who in turn spun not long after. Irazú and Szuch fought for the lead, and Irazú came out on top, but was penalised post-race for forcing Szuch off the track, giving Szuch his second win of the weekend. [14] Irazú continued to lead the drivers' standings, 26 points ahead of Szuch.
Round three was held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course a month later. Jacir set the fastest time in qualifying, but the top three cars of Jacir, Pablo Benites and Szuch were disqualified after the session for a technical violation, with Irazú inheriting pole position. He was overtaken at the start by Cash Felber, with the pair running close together until Irazú spun on lap 15, sending him out of the podium positions for the first time this season. Szuch had charged through the field during the race, and overtook Felber for the lead on the penultimate lap, but was given a five-second penalty after the race for causing a collision with Luca Day. Felber took his maiden win, ahead of Jacir and Szuch. [15]
Irazú again started on pole for race two and held it following an early battle with Cará. However, he made an error during the safety car restart on lap 6, with Cará and Benites both overtaking him, although he was able to return to the lead a lap later by overtaking them both around the outside of turn 4. He remained in front for the rest of the race, with Benites and Cará rounding out the podum. [16]
Race three was shortened from thirty minutes to twenty. [17] Another fastest lap meant a third pole position for Irazú. Jacir overtook him at the start, with Irazú slipping down to third. He spun on lap eight, again dropping out of the podium positions. The race ended under caution after Josh Griffith crashed, with Jacir initially taking the win. However, he was given a ten-second penalty for jumping the start, and Benites inherited the win ahead of Cash Felber and Szuch. [15]
Points were awarded as follows:
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
|
Italics – Fastest Lap Rookie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pos | Team | NOL | ROA | MOH | NJM | VIR | ALA | Pts | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R3 | |||
| 1 | Champagne Racing | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | C | 326 | |||||
| 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 2 | C | ||||||||
| 2 | Berg Racing | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | C | 253.5 | |||||
| Ret | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11† | 6 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 5 | C | ||||||||
| 3 | Cará Origin Motorsports | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 | C | 126.5 | |||||
| 4 | Scuderia Buell | 4 | 5 | 6 | Ret | 4 | Ret | 4 | 2 | 1 | 91 | ||||||||
| 5 | LC Racing Academy | 11 | 9 | 11 | 4 | Ret | 3 | 2 | 4 | 14 | Ret | 6 | C | 68 | |||||
| Ret | 10 | C | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Momentum Motorsports | Ret | 6 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 9 | C | 58 | |||||
| Ret | Ret | Ret | 13 | Ret | 11 | 10 | 11 | C | |||||||||||
| 7 | Ava Hanssen Racing | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 8 | C | 53 | |||||
| 8 | Kiwi Motorsport | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 13† | C | 24 | |||||||||||
| 9 | JENSEN | 7 | 11 | 10 | 11 | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | DNS | 14 | |||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Crosslink Motorsport | 12 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12† | C | 5 | |||||
| 12 | 13 | Ret | |||||||||||||||||
| Pos | Team | NOL | ROA | MOH | NJM | VIR | ALA | Pts | |||||||||||
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R3 | |||
| Source: [19] | |||||||||||||||||||
