AUSTIN, Texas (November 3, 2023) – Augie Soto-Schirripa won his fourth Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) race on Saturday afternoon at the Mission Foods Austin SpeedTour weekend at Circuit of The Americas (COTA). The 23-year-old ran second to his teammate, series newcomer Ariel Elkin (No. 18 International Motorsport Ligier JS F4), for much of the race. The two put on a dynamic show, running wheel to wheel and swapping positions before Soto-Schirripa (No. 24 International Motorsport Ligier JS F4) finally sealed the deal, passing his teammate racing through Turn 15 on the penultimate lap.
Notes of Interest:
- Augie Soto-Schirripa earned his fourth F4 U.S. win of the year in Race 2 of the Mission Foods SpeedTour weekend. A part-time competitor, Soto-Schirripa has raced in just 11 of the 17 rounds this season, but has notched six podiums in those 11 starts.
- Ariel Elkin joined the F4 U.S. Championship after competing in the F4 Italian Championship earlier this year. In just his second race, the driver earned his first-career pole and recorded a career-best finish of second.
- This was the first 1-2 finish for the International Motorsport organization.
- Patrick Woods-Toth has finished third in five of the last six races. The 20-year-old locked up the 2023 F4 U.S. Driver’s Championship during Race 1 at COTA on Friday morning.
- Daniel Quimby (No. 42 Doran Motorsports Group Ligier JS F4) and Christian Cantu (No. 88 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4) recorded career-best finishes with their seventh- and 10-place finishes, respectively.
Elkin led the field down the starting grid with Soto-Schirripa to his outside. Elkin immediately took control of the race, while Soto-Schirripa had to fend off challenges from third-place starter, Jesse Lacey (No. 16 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4). Soto-Schirripa cleared Lacey, leaving the Australian to run side by side with Daniel Cará (No. 10 Tenuta Foppa & Ambrosi Ligier JS F4) through the Hankook esses. Racing hard for position, Lacey spun out of contention and dropped in the running order. Meanwhile, Patrick Woods-Toth (No. 27 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) was steadily racing through the field, picking off the competition one by one. Within the opening 10 minutes of the race, the newly-confirmed F4 U.S. Champion moved all the way up to third from this eighth-place starting position.
While the rest of the field settled their running order, Soto-Schirripa and Elkin had opened up to nearly a four second advantage over the field. Nearly 14 minutes were left on the clock as Soto-Schirripa pulled wheel to wheel with his teammate through Turns 13-14. The move set off a five-minute battle of two-wide racing that was only slowed by a full course caution.
The race resumed with just three minutes left on the clock, the two International Motorsport teammates immediately resumed their battle for the lead. As they raced toward the white flag, Soto-Schirripa was able to complete the pass racing through Turn 15.
When they crossed the line, Soto-Schirripa led the way, with Elkin and Woods-Toth in tow behind him.
READ MORE: Race 2 Official Results
“This feels great,” said Soto-Schirripa after climbing from the car. “A year ago, I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be here. So just being here is an honor. Look at this guy [teammate, Ariel Elkin]. I’m really proud of my teammate. 1-2 for the International Motorsport team—first time ever that we bring two cars and we made it work. I’m over the moon right now. It was a fun race—probably the most fun race I’ve had all year. I think everyone enjoyed that, so hopefully we can put on a show tomorrow, too.”
The lights will go out for the final race of the 2023 season tomorrow afternoon at 12:45 p.m. CT. Fans at the track are invited to join the drivers of F4 U.S. and Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda on pit lane at 12 p.m. CT for a special fan walk. See the cars, meet the drivers, and collect autographs and free giveaways just moments before the race begins!
A free live stream of Race 3 will kick off with coverage of the pre-race ceremonies at 1:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. CT.Watch the broadcast on SpeedTourTV’s YouTube page, or access live timing and scoring on the Race Monitor app. For additional news and updates from the season finale weekend, follow F4 U.S. on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
