2025 Ligier Junior Formula Championship

The 2025 Ligier Junior Formula Championship is the second season of the Ligier Junior Formula Championship. The series was rebranded from Ligier JS F4 Series for the 2025 season.^[1] The series serves as a feeder into the United States Formula 4 Championship and is sanctioned by Parella Motorsports Holdings.

2025 Ligier Junior Formula Championship

Previous

2024

Next

2026

Parent series:
Formula Regional Americas Championship
United States Formula 4 Championship

During the season, drivers are provided with a Ligier JS F416 chassis powered by Honda engines and utilize Hankook tires.^[2]

Teams and drivers

Team No. Driver Status Rounds JENSEN 1 Zach Fourie[3] R 1 2 Josh Griffith[4] R 1 LC Racing Academy 7 Beckham Jacir R 2–4 8 Jordyn Martin R 4 24 Luca Day[4][5] R 1 Momentum Motorsports 9 2–4 46 Max Mokarem[4] R 1–4 Cará Origin Motorsports 10 Daniel Cará[4] 1–4 Champagne Racing 11 Cash Felber[6] R 1–4 12 Michael Fatutta[4] R 1–4 42 Gastón Irazú[3] R 1–4 73 Roman Felber[6] R 1–4 Kiwi Motorsport 15 Zach Fourie R 3–4 Crosslink Motorsports 20 Kelsey Pinkowski[7] R 1–3 34 Josh Griffith R 3–4 Berg Racing 23 Harbir Dass[3] 1–4 28 Drew Szuch[4] 1–4 Ava Hanssen Racing 26 Ava Hanssen[3] R 1–4 Scuderia Buell 27 Augusto Paschetta[3] R 1–2 44 Pablo Benites Jr. 3

Icon Status R Rookie

Race calendar

The 2025 calendar was announced on 27 September 2024.^[8] All rounds will support the Formula Regional Americas Championship and United States Formula 4.

Round		Circuit	Date
1	R1	NOLA Motorsports Park, Avondale	29 March
	R2
	R3		30 March
2	R1	Road America, Elkhart Lake	15–18 May
	R2
	R3
3	R1	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington	19–22 June
	R2
	R3
4	R1	New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville	31 July-3 August
	R2
	R3
5	R1	Virginia International Raceway, Alton	18–21 September
	R2
	R3
6	R1	Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham	17–19 October
	R2
	R3

Race results

Round		Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	R1	NOLA Motorsports Park	Daniel Cará	Gastón Irazú	Gastón Irazú	Champagne Racing
	R2			Gastón Irazú	Drew Szuch	Berg Racing
	R3			Gastón Irazú	Gastón Irazú	Champagne Racing
2	R1	Road America	Gastón Irazú[a]	Drew Szuch	Drew Szuch	Berg Racing
	R2			Daniel Cará	Daniel Cará	Cará Origin Motorsports
	R3			Gastón Irazú	Drew Szuch	Berg Racing
3	R1	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Gastón Irazú[b]	Gastón Irazú	Cash Felber	Champagne Racing
	R2			Gastón Irazú	Gastón Irazú	Champagne Racing
	R3			Beckham Jacir	Pablo Benites Jr.	Scuderia Buell
4	R1	New Jersey Motorsports Park	Roman Felber	Gastón Irazú	Gastón Irazú	Champagne Racing
	R2			Gastón Irazú	Roman Felber	Champagne Racing
	R3			Race cancelled after delays to weekend schedule
5	R1	Virginia International Raceway
	R2
	R3
6	R1	Barber Motorsports Park
	R2
	R3

Season report

Round 1: NOLA

The first round of the championship took place in the same venue as last year: NOLA Motorsports Park. Daniel Cará took pole for the opening race of the season after Gastón Irazú received a penalty for incorrect tire usage.^[9] He was passed at the start of the race after a false start by Harbir Dass and Drew Szuch, who fought for the lead. However, Szuch's engine cover came off in lap 6, and he was forced to retire. Irazú overtook Dass for the lead on lap 8.

For race two, Irazú started on pole. Szuch overtook him with eleven minutes remaining in the race, and a safety car period to recover the car of Roman Felber meant that Irazú could not retake the lead, giving Szuch his first win in the series.^[10]

Irazú was also on pole for race three, and led for the majority of the race — Max Mokarem overtook him at the start but lost the lead in the same lap. Irazú led the standings after the first round, with his team Champagne Racing leading the teams' standings.^[11]

Round 2: Road America

Round two took place six weeks later at Road America. Qualifying was cancelled due to lightning in the area, and the grid for race one was set by championship standings, so Irazú started from pole. Cará fought him for the lead on the opening lap, but the pair collided, dropping Irazú to seventh. He fought back through the field, finishing third behind Cará, in a photo finish with Szuch and Beckham Jacir. However, Cará was penalised for the earlier contact, giving Szuch the win.^[12]

Szuch started from pole for race two, alongside newcomer Jacir, who stalled at the start. Irazú took the lead on lap three, but he locked up the following lap, handing the lead to Cará. With two minutes remaining, Szuch was spun into the pit wall by Mokarem, and the race ended under safety car. Cará took his first single-seater win with half points awarded.^[12]

Cará started on pole for race three. Irazú, who started for sixth, made progress and took advantage of other drivers' errors to take the lead on lap three. He was overtaken again three laps later by Cará, who in turn spun not long after. Irazú and Szuch fought for the lead, and Irazú came out on top, but was penalised post-race for forcing Szuch off the track, giving Szuch his second win of the weekend.^[13] Irazú continued to lead the drivers' standings, 26 points ahead of Szuch.

Round 3: Mid-Ohio

Round three was held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course a month later. Jacir set the fastest time in qualifying, but the top three cars of Jacir, Pablo Benites and Szuch were disqualified after the session for a technical violation, with Irazú inheriting pole position. He was overtaken at the start by Cash Felber, with the pair running close together until Irazú spun on lap 15, sending him out of the podium positions for the first time this season. Szuch had charged through the field during the race, and overtook Felber for the lead on the penultimate lap, but was given a five-second penalty after the race for causing a collision with Luca Day. Felber took his maiden win, ahead of Jacir and Szuch.^[14]

Irazú again started on pole for race two and held it following an early battle with Cará. However, he made an error during the safety car restart on lap 6, with Cará and Benites both overtaking him, although he was able to return to the lead a lap later by overtaking them both around the outside of turn 4. He remained in front for the rest of the race, with Benites and Cará rounding out the podum.^[15]

Race three was shortened from thirty minutes to twenty.^[16] Another fastest lap meant a third pole position for Irazú. Jacir overtook him at the start, with Irazú slipping down to third. He spun on lap eight, again dropping out of the podium positions. The race ended under caution after Josh Griffith crashed, with Jacir initially taking the win. However, he was given a ten-second penalty for jumping the start, and Benites inherited the win ahead of Cash Felber and Szuch.^[14]

Championship standings

Points were awarded as follows:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Drivers' standings

Pos Driver NOL ROA MOH NJM VIR ALA Pts R1 R2 R3 R1 R2[c] R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 1 Gastón Irazú 1 2 1 2 2 2 11 1 9 1 1 C 190 2 Drew Szuch Ret 1 4 1 11† 1 3 7 3 3 5 C 148 3 Daniel Cará 3 4 2 6 1 4 5 3 6 5 7 C 126.5 4 Cash Felber 5 7 8 5 10 5 1 5 2 Ret 2 C 111.5 5 Harbir Dass 2 3 5 3 3 7 7 9 4 9 4 C 105.5 6 Beckham Jacir 4 Ret 3 2 4 14 Ret 6 C 65 7 Roman Felber 9 Ret 7 11 6 8 Ret 6 13 2 3 C 57 8 Max Mokarem Ret 6 3 8 9 6 9 10 8 4 9 C 57 9 Pablo Benites Jr. 4 2 1 55 10 Ava Hanssen 6 8 9 7 5 9 8 11 5 6 8 C 53 11 Augusto Paschetta 4 5 6 Ret 4 Ret 36 12 Zach Fourie 7 11 10 6 8 7 7 13† C 31 13 Michael Fatutta 10 12 13 10 7 10 10 14 10 8 Ret C 12 14 Kelsey Pinkowski 12 10 12 9 8 11 12 13 12 5 15 Josh Griffith 8 DNS 14 14 12 Ret 11 12† C 4 16 Luca Day 11 9 11 Ret Ret Ret 13 Ret 11 10 11 C 3 17 Jordyn Martin Ret 10 C 1 Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 Pts NOL ROA MOH NJM VIR ALA Source:[17]

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap Rookie

Teams' standings

Pos	Team	NOL			ROA			MOH			NJM			VIR			ALA			Pts
		R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3
1	Champagne Racing	1	2	1	2	2	2	1	1	2	1	1	C							326
		5	7	7	5	6	5	10	5	9	2	2	C
2	Berg Racing	2	1	4	1	3	1	3	7	3	3	4	C							253.5
		Ret	3	5	3	11†	6	7	9	4	9	5	C
3	Cará Origin Motorsports	3	4	2	6	1	4	5	3	6	5	7	C							126.5
4	Scuderia Buell	4	5	6	Ret	4	Ret	4	2	1										91
5	LC Racing Academy	11	9	11	4	Ret	3	2	4	14	Ret	6	C							68
											Ret	10	C
6	Momentum Motorsports	Ret	6	3	8	9	6	9	10	8	4	9	C							58
					Ret	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	11	10	11	C
7	Ava Hanssen Racing	6	8	9	7	5	9	8	11	5	6	8	C							53
8	Kiwi Motorsport							6	8	7	7	13†	C							24
9	JENSEN	7	11	10																11
		8	DNS	14
10	Crosslink Motorsport	12	10	12	9	8	11	11	12	12	11	12†	C							5
								12	13	Ret
Pos	Team	NOL			ROA			MOH			NJM			VIR			ALA			Pts
		R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3
Source:[18]

Notes

1. Qualifying was cancelled due to inclement weather. The grid was set according to championship position.
2. Beckham Jacir set the fastest time in qualifying but was disqualified for a technical violation. Gastón Irazú inherited pole position.
3. Half points were awarded as less than 50% of laps were completed under green flag conditions.