STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — Cooper Shipman has been flawless thus far in Formula 4 United States Championship (F4 U.S.) this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Fastest in practice and qualifying, Shipman (No. 14 Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F422) led the field down the starting grid after securing his second pole of the season.
Alex Popow (No. 55 Dr. Michael Thompson MS DDS PPLS / MLT Motorsports Ligier JS F422) rolled off second, but it was actually third-place starter Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N-E-Where Transport / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F422) who was making forward progress during the opening laps of the race.
Overtaking Popow for second in Turn 1, Hauanio smoothly moved past Shipman to take the lead as they raced toward Turn 2. Shipman battled back, and the two raced side by side through Turns 3, 4 and 5.
While Hauanio was initially able to hold the position, Shipman challenged again as they raced through the same sector the following lap, this time emerging with the race lead. From there, he never looked back, steadily pulling ahead and putting a gap on the field. With Popow making the pass on Hauanio during the latter stages of the race to overtake second, he tried to pull Shipman into his grasp, but was unable to do so before the checkered flag waved.
As they crossed the finish line, it was Shipman leading the way, followed Popow in second and Hauanio in third.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Shipman from atop the podium. “We’ve shown the pace throughout the season, but haven’t really been able to put it together. It wasn’t the best start for us today—we got back to P2—but I stayed calm and was able to get back to the lead. I knew it would come eventually, and today we were able to finally put all the pieces together and come up with the win. I’d like to thank both my parents and everybody at Kiwi Motorsport for making this possible. They put a really good car underneath me today, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
