LEXINGTON, Ohio (June 22, 2024) – Teddy Musella (No. 25 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4) sailed away with the victory in the Ligier JS F4 Series’ (JS F4) first race of the Mid-Ohio SpeedTour on Saturday afternoon. Overtaking the polesitter Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N.E.Where Transportation / New’T Racing Ligier JS F4) on the second lap, Musella kept his focus forward, opening a gap behind him and driving away toward the checkered flag.
Notes of Interest:
- Teddy Musella earned his third win of the season by taking the victory in Race 1 at the Mid-Ohio SpeedTour.
- Kekai Hauanio’s runner-up result marked his third-consecutive podium after winning Round 5 and finishing second in Round 6 at Road America last month. In total, Hauanio has recorded four podiums this season.
- Bacon Zelenka’s third-place finish marks his fifth podium of 2024. He is tied with Musella for the most podium finishes this season.
When the lights went out, the field jumped out to a clean start. Polesitter Hauanio initially led the way, but Musella stayed tight on his rear wing, looking for the right opportunity to get around. By the time they reached Turn 9 on the second lap, Musella found his opportunity, diving to the inside of Hauanio and claiming the point position as they exited the corner. The two stayed nose to stern for the opening 10 minutes of the race, with less than a second separating them on the leaderboard. Behind them, battles were on, with Bacon Zelenka (No. 45 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) facing pressure from Maite Cáceres (No. 6 Abitab / Supermatch Ligier JS F4), Brad Majman (No. 95 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) and Drew Szuch (No. 28 Szuch Racing Ligier JS F4).
As things got sorted, the contests appeared to be Zelenka vs. Majman for third, and Cáceres vs. Szuch for fifth. Szuch slowed on the track, allowing Cáceres to easily claim the fifth position, while Zelenka and Majman continued to race wheel to wheel in front of her. With the clock ticking down, Majman pulled to Zelenka’s gearbox as they raced down the backstretch, before darting outside in Turn 4 to give himself the preferred position to race through Turn 5. Claiming the third spot, less than a half second separated the two, but that all changed two laps later when Majman lost control and spun on the exit of Turn 9 to give Zelenka back the position.
With the field spread out, Musella, Hauanio, Zelenka and Cáceres all raced toward the checkered flag. Their pace, however, was slowed with just three minutes left on the clock when a competitor spun in Turn 11, getting stuck in the gravel trap and bringing out the full course caution.
As they crossed the finish line, Musella led, with Hauanio and Zelenka in his wake.
“That was a good race,” said Musella. “My car was better at the beginning with Kekai [Hauanio], but I tried to maintain the pace throughout the race. At the end, I saw Kekai gaining. I pushed, but he had a better pace. I just want to thank everyone—my team, Scuderia Buell, my dad, and all the sponsors for helping me get to this point.”
JS F4 will contest a doubleheader tomorrow, with Race 2 scheduled at 9:40 a.m., followed by Race 3 at 3:10 p.m. ET. Feature races from this weekend’s Mid-Ohio SpeedTour will be streamed on YouTube.com/SpeedTourTV, with live timing and scoring from all sessions on the Race Monitor app. Additional news and updates will be posted on the series’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
