Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) headed south to the heat and humidity of sunny Florida for Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the 2019 F4 US Championship season at Sebring International Raceway.
With a day of testing on Thursday for the JHDD driver line-up consisting of Christian Brooks, Hayden Bowlesbey, Wyatt Brichacek, Robert Soroka and Christian Bogle, both team and drivers had ample time to get themselves acquainted with the historic 3.74-mile circuit. Bumps, pavement changes and variable weather conditions, as is always the case when racing at the legendary Sebring International Raceway, would play a role throughout what proved to be an exciting weekend of F4 racing.
Brooks, who is taking to his first year of open wheel racing impressively, scored his second victory of the season in Round 14 on Saturday afternoon in emphatic style. In and around intermittent showers on slick tires, Brooks was unfazed and duly parked his Global/JHDD machine in Victory Lane. Bogle yet again scored points in his rookie season, despite enduring some unfortunate luck in Sunday morning’s race. Bowlesbey also continued his progression with the JHDD squad as he proved to be one of the biggest movers in each race, especially with a fine drive in the variable conditions on Saturday afternoon. Both Brichacek and Soroka endured frustrating weekends as racing incidents put a dampener on the final results for both young chargers, despite showing impressive speed once again in qualifying.
Team-owner, Jay Howard, continues to be impressed with his group of young chargers as the team added to its growing collection of trophies in the 2019 season. “Overall, it was a really good weekend here in Sebring. Great to get another win for (Christian) Brooks and the team, and all the boys were fast. It’s a positive way for all of us to look ahead to the final weekend of the season at COTA when we will be racing alongside Formula 1. As always, a massive thanks to the boys for all of their hard work.”
WHAT THE DRIVERS SAID:
#3 Hayden Bowlsbey
Round 13 – P25; Round 14 – P13; Round 15 – P13
“Good weekend here in Sebring! The team made sure I had a good car for race 2 and I was able to get the car from P25 to P13. I accidentally got in a situation in T1 which was out of my control on Race 1 which gave me a flat and I had to retire. For race 3 I was struggling to find any sort of grip, so I wasn’t able to get the result that I wanted. Hoping I can get better results at COTA!”
#4 Christian Brooks
Round 13 – P4; Round 14 – P1; Round 15 – P6
“Just finished up Race 2 here at Sebring. It was an intense race to say the least. It started out in the dry and we made our way up to P3 then we were able to make our way up to P1 at the restart. I had a sick battle with Jose Blanco and hung on while we were running slick tires in the rain. It was nuts. The Jay Howard Driver Development boys set up the car great in the dry and my rallycross skills came out there in the wet. Awesome race, I’m super stoked.”
#5 Wyatt Brichacek
Round 13 – P24; Round 14 – P15; Round 15 – P11
“It was kind of a rough weekend here at Sebring for me. I had a couple of issues with the brakes leading into qualifying, but fortunately we were able to sort it and I qualified well in P7. Unfortunately, in all of the races I got caught up in racing incidents, one of which was a mistake on my behalf, but the others were just frustrating. Looking forward to bouncing back at COTA in a few weeks’ time.”
#6 Robert Soroka
Round 13 – P14; Round 14 – P14; Round 15 – DNF
“Overall, I found the weekend to be super enjoyable, despite the multiple setbacks I came to face. The racing was top-notch in both dry and wet conditions, and it was the best weekend I had so far in terms of pace. With everything I’ve learned this weekend, I’ll take it all and bring my best for COTA.”
#7 Christian Bogle
Round 13 – P10; Round 14 – P9; Round 15 - DNF
“I had a really positive weekend at Sebring International Raceway, bringing home 3 points with a P10 and a P9. The last race finished on a bit of a low note as I had a braking issue which forced me to retire the car. Still, I’m very happy with the weekend and I’m ready for COTA.”
Next up for the JHDD F4 US Championship outfit is the season finale, as well as the highlight event of the year, at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) where the series will race alongside Formula 1. Fans can follow all of the action from COTA via the Race Monitor App and JHDD social media channels.
