Team gunning for race wins in Texas having score championship in debut season
Having made its Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda debut back in January at the first official series test of the season, Don Conner and his DC Autosport with Cape Motorsports team achieved their primary goal on the September 14-16 weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park. After powering through an impressive run of five events yielding 15 races, the team clinched the F4 driver championship title one weekend early as San Diego, California's Dakota Dickerson scored his second and third victories of the year. Dickerson has been amazingly consistent all season in his No. 9 DC Autosport Ligier JS F4, finishing in the top-10 of all 15 races, a new series record. All but one of those top-10 results were within the top-five. Dickerson won two of the three races at the NJMP tripleheader to put the championship out of reach. Teammate Eduardo Barrichello notched his fourth top-10 of the year, while Conner also fielded a third car for series rookie Alex Mayer to make his first F4 U.S. Championship start. Mayer was impressive, improving his position through the three-day event, finishing in the top-10 in the final race of the weekend. The team is now looking forward to the series finale on the October 19-21 weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX, where they will run in support of Formula 1 and the United States Grand Prix.
“The New Jersey Motorsports Park event was a great weekend for the team,” offered Conner, DC Autosport’s team owner. “It was fantastic for Dakota to get two wins. He always has his head down working on going quicker, and I'm proud of the work that the whole team has done. Eduardo had strong pace dicing with guys who have already been on the podium this year. His progression has been tremendous. We ran Alex Mayer in the third car for the first time, and he made steady progress getting up to speed running in the top-10 by the end of the weekend.”
“It's nice to show everyone that we could get the job done the way I wanted to,” Conner continued. “It's been a bit of struggle having put it all together kind of last minute, but with the title under our belts, the team has to start looking to 2019! We’re focused on finishing the season on a high-note and then getting to work for next year.” 
Dickerson’s NJMP weekend was strong from start to finish, qualifying second for the opening race. A minor off-track excursion early in the 23-lapper moved him back to third, but he was able to get the spot back by the end of the race to finish second. Dakota was in position to pressure for the win, but upon realizing he could not make a high-percentage pass, he elected to take second to extend his lead in the championship points. The team knew that they had great pace in Race 1, and it would be important to get in the lead on the start of Race 2. Starting second, Dickerson launched well and emerged from the opening corner with the lead. From there, he managed two restarts and eventually won by over two seconds. In the final race of the weekend, Dickerson started alongside championship rival and polesitter James Raven and eventually took over the lead by the end of the first lap. Once again, a pair of yellow flag caution periods slowed the field, and on the second restart, Dickerson lost the lead for a portion of the lap. Dickerson took it back before the lap was completed and they led to the checkered flag, scoring his third win of the year while locking up the championship in the process.
"This was a fantastic weekend for us,” Dickerson added. “The guys at DC Autosport gave me a fantastic car all weekend, and I am so happy that we were able to secure the championship by winning both races on Sunday. These guys worked so hard all year and I'm so thankful to be able to work with such a passionate group of guys. I'll be working hard during our time-off to make sure we get a pair of wins at the season finale at Circuit of the Americas with Formula 1.”
Barrichello started 12th and finish 12th in the opening race on the 12-turn, 2.25-mile Thunderbolt layout at the Millville, New Jersey, facility. Again starting on the outside of the sixth row for the second event, Barrichello advanced to eighth in the final tally, scoring his fourth top-10 finish of the season. The Brazilian’s pace in the second race put him on the inside of the fifth row for the start of the final race of the weekend, and he was once again in the front-half of the grid in recording another top-12 result in 11th.
DC Autosport welcomed reigning SCCA F1000 National Champion Alex Mayer to the paddock in September and the Harleysville, Pennsylvania, resident made his first laps in an F4 during Thursday testing. Mayer qualified 22nd in the field of 31 cars to begin the event, and the weekend featured continued progress. Alex advanced five positions to finish 17th in his first series start, and his pace from that race moved him up to row nine for the start of the second race. The 24-year-old continued to pick up his pace and powered forward to a stellar 11th place finish in Race 2, and his progression 
was not yet finished as his fast lap advanced him up the order yet again, placing him 13th on the grid for the final battle of the tripleheader. In Race 3, Mayer was on the move to finish eighth in the final tally, scoring his first FIA F4 points. Alex is extremely motivated to continue his rapid rise up the F4 order when he joins DC Autosport once again for the season finale at COTA. Mayer has both tested and raced at the technical Texas track, and with his first foray into F4 in the books, he’ll be aiming to challenge for the race wins.
DC Autosport will unload at the COTA circuit on Thursday, October 18, as the newly-crowned series champions. A lone practice session will be held on Friday at 11:55 am CT ahead of qualifying at 4:00 pm. The opening race of the doubleheader will take place at 5:30 pm on Saturday afternoon, immediately following F1 qualifying, and the second event will run at 10:15 am on Sunday morning.
