AUSTIN, Texas (October 24, 2021) – When Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) entered the weekend, four drivers were mathematically eligible for the driver championship. Among those drivers, Jason Alder entered the weekend third, 25 points back from the leader, and knew he would need a near-perfect weekend to secure the 2021 F4 U.S. Driver Championship title. On Saturday afternoon, he checked off his first box with a win in Race 1 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) driving his No. 77 Velocity Racing Development Ligier JS F4.
As the lights went out, Alder was in the fourth position. A methodical start allowed him to take over the lead on the backstretch just before the caution flag waved to bring the field back together. An aggressive restart on his Hankook Tires allowed Alder to go three-wide into Turn 1 to maintain first place before steadily hitting his marks and sailing off toward the checkered flag and provisional race win.
“Race 1 really couldn’t have gone much smoother,” said Alder after the race. “Hopefully I’m not speaking against what will happen in Race 2. But I’m feeling confident starting on the front row with my teammate, provisionally, next to me. The car is right where I want it to be going into the final race. The VRD guys do a great job getting the car to where I need it to be to do my job. I’m looking forward to doing the exact same thing again in Race 2 that we were able to do in Race 1.”
With a sixth-place finish, Nico Christodoulou is provisionally out of the championship hunt, despite logging the fastest lap of the race. Christodoulou also led this morning’s qualifying session, but a penalty required him to start the race from pit road, and the race was an uphill battle from there. The driver picked up several positions during the closing laps, but it wasn’t enough to keep the championship hopes alive for the young Canadian who entered the race fourth in the championship hunt.
Drivers have one last chance for victory in the 2021 season, and a champion will be crowned as F4 U.S. returns to the track at COTA today at 10 a.m. CT for Race 2.
