As the Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda race day countdown to Indianapolis Motor Speedway dwindles, its entry list continues to swell. Two additional late entries were confirmed today by Jay Howard’s Motorsports Driver Development and Group-A Racing, expanding the F4 U.S. field for Indy to 32 cars.
Eighteen-year-old Braden Eves of Gahanna, Ohio, will compete for Jay Howard’s MDD and two-time SCCA Regional Racing Formula Vee champion Flinn Lazier of Vail, Colorado, will fill Group-A Racing’s final seat.
“F4 U.S. continues to receive tremendous support from the racing community,” said Chairman and President of SCCA Ventures Dan Helman. “Seeing the amount of growth the series has had in just its second year, is just outstanding.”
Lazier is the son of 1996 Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Lazier and grandson of three-time 24 Hours of Daytona winner Bob Lazier. The third-generation open-wheel driver started racing karts at six years old and transitioned into cars two years ago.
“We are very happy to have Flinn join Group-A this weekend in Indy,” said Group-A team owner Joe Scarallo. “It says a lot about our program to have an Indy 500 champion trust us with his son. Hopefully this leads to bigger things for both Flinn and Group-A.”
While most competitors wait years for the chance to cross the yard of bricks, Eves will spend his first race in a car at IMS.
“I’m looking forward to getting my first race in a car under my belt,” Eves said. “I’ve had several test sessions in the car before coming to Indy. I am feeling very confident heading into the event.”
Eves has had a successful career in karting under Jay Howard’s MDD karting program, winning two consecutive spring Super Karts! USA championships and two national championships in 2016.
The group of 32 F4 U.S. cars will participate in two practice sessions on Friday with qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday. Event 2 will wrap up on Sunday with two races on Sunday. Fans can follow live timing and scoring here.
Cover photo provided by Braden Eves from Focal Perspective Media
