After coming close numerous times during the season, Group-A Racing’s young South African rookie, Cameron O’Connor, scored his first Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda points of the year at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, following a weekend of points scoring results for Sam Paley in a Group-A Racing machine at Mid Ohio.
The series hosted a two-day test at the newly FIA accredited track week leading into the event. The test showed a lot of promise for the young driver taking big steps forward in his driving, giving everybody in the team an upbeat feeling heading into the race weekend.
The official race weekend started off with a wet practice which showcased good initial speed. O’Connor jumped up to fastest lap and traded it with championship leader Dakota Dickerson. Sadly, it only lasted so long with O’Connor having an off, damaging the car, which set the team back until qualifying next day.
O'Connor regrouped after the Friday setback in qualifying, setting his best times of the season. Because he brought out a red flag the day before, he incurred a two-grid spot penalty to line up 18th in the 30-car field.
Race 1 gave O'Connor the opportunity to fully live up to his name of Bulldog given by team owner Joe Scarallo Sr. The young South African instantly gained three positions in the opening lap and a half to move up to 15th before a lengthy yellow came out. With not much time left when racing resumed, O'Connor made the most of it, gaining yet another three positions to move up to 12th before the checkered flag dropped.
“The car was absolutely awesome!” Stated O’Connor. “If that yellow did not take so long to clean up, we could have moved up a lot more spot. The car was spot on, I was catching and passing people every lap.”
With Race 2 grid set the previous race's fastest lap, O'Connor had to start farther back then preferred even though he was passing cars essentially every lap during first session. Despite starting 17th “Bulldog” lived up to his nickname yet again fighting his way toward the front, clawing to 9th before the yellow came out to end the race. This result gave O'Connor his best result of the year and first championships points as well.
After scoring his first points O’Connor was looking for more of the same in Race 3 in his Group-A Racing machine. O'Connor got another good start to gain two positions into Turn 1. Unfortunately, it would be shortly lived with his No. 93 Repro Supplies car getting collected in a Lap 1 incident to end his day.
“This entire week was a big boost for Cameron’s confidence and development” said team manager Jonathan Scarallo. “A lot of the things we have been coaching him has started to click in his head and therefor the laptime/overall competitiveness is as well. He has been deserving of points for a while and has had it robbed from him, so it’s good for him to finally get that monkey off his back. We are looking forward to carrying this momentum with him into our home track of New Jersey Motorsports Park.”
Drivers interested in both test and race opportunities in the F4 U.S. Championship can contact the team via 631-974-4379 or info@GroupARacingTeam.com.
