MILLVILLE, N.J. (August 3, 2025) – Cooper Shipman swept the New Jersey Lottery SpeedTour in Formula 4 United States Championship (F4 U.S.) competition this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). Starting from the pole, Shipman (No. 14 Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F422) was outpaced early in the race by his championship rival Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N-E-Where Transport / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F422), but was able to close in and take the lead with just 10 minutes left on the clock before cruising off with the victory. As they raced toward the green flag, third-place starter Hauanio got a good run and was able to swing wide to pass Shipman as the field entered Turn 1. With Hauanio in control out front, competitors started jockeying for position behind him, with a few off-track excursions mixed in. Two brief safety car deployments meant Hauanio had to hold off the field as they all lined up nose to stern. Able to do so on the first restart, he faced a real challenge from Shipman on the second. With Hauanio showing immense speed as they fired off, Shipman had to pace himself and wait for a longer run for his car to show its strength. Finally having his chance with just over 10 minutes left on the clock, Shipman swept around the outside of Turn 1 and completed the pass to take the lead. Pulling away from the field as the clock ticked down, Shipman took the race win, with Hauanio following in second and Alex Popow (No. 55 Dr. Michael Thompson MS DDS PPLS / MLT Motorsports Ligier JS F422) in third.
After the race, the stewards reviewed a report of a defensive movement by Popow on a restart. Ruling that Popow did impede another driver, they issued a five-second time penalty, which dropped him to fourth on the final results, and promoted Clemente Huerta Raab (No. 17 Velox USA / Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F422) to the third and final podium position.
> REPLAY THE STREAM: Stream Round 10 from NJMP
Notes of Interest:
- Cooper Shipman won Race 2 to sweep the New Jersey Lottery SpeedTour weekend and earn his fourth-straight victory in F4 U.S. competition. He extended his lead in the championship battle to 17 points over second-place Kekai Hauanio.
- Kekai Hauanio earned his eighth podium of the season with a runner-up finish in Race 2. For the last two years, Hauanio has finished second in every race he’s entered at NJMP, including three races in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship last year and both F4 U.S. races this year.
- Clemente Huerta Raab scored his fourth podium of the season, moving him to fourth in the championship point standings.
- Luke Powers earned a career-best finish with a fifth-place result in Round 10 at NJMP.
> SEE MORE: Race 2 Official Results
“It was an awesome race,” said Shipman after climbing from the car. “The Kiwi Motorsport guys made sure that my car had the pace to win. I knew that Kekai and the other guys were firing off pretty good on the short runs, but I knew as soon as we got an extended period of green that I was going to be pretty good. Once everybody kind of settled down, I just took my time and then took the lead when I got the chance. From there, I knew I could manage the race and was able to get the win.”
F4 U.S. will return to the track at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park later this month. Taking place August 28-31, Saturday and Sunday’s races will stream live on SpeedTour.TV, with live timing and scoring available on the Race Monitor app. Additional news and updates from the weekend will be posted on the series’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
