Formula 4

Group-A Racing F4US Drivers Scores Top Results at Barber 

LINDENHURST, NEW YORK (AUGUST 11, 2020) - Group-A Racing F4US Drivers Scores Top Results at Barber
 
Group-A Racing leaves its first trip to Barber Motorsports Park with a top-five and multiple top-10 results, giving the team a good bag of points into the mid-season break. 
 
The incredibly scenic Barber Motorsports Park is a new venue for both the Formula 4 United States Championship Presented by Honda and Group-A Racing team. While most of its competitors tested at Barber during the COVID-19 shut down, nobody from the Group-A Racing camp participated in the test due to domestic and international travel restrictions. While going in behind, the team's extremely deep engineering staff was able to rely on previous trips to the Birmingham facility in other championships to facilitate setting up the cars.
 
Practice showed promise for the Group-A Racing drivers, having done a lot of prep work on the simulator with Group-A Racing team manager and driver coach Jonathan Scarallo. Unfortunately, very nasty weather with flooding and high winds moved into the Birmingham, Alabama, area late Friday afternoon causing qualifying to be canceled. Series officials decided to grid the field for Race 1 based on championship points. 
 
With that, Race 1 saw Group-A Racing’s Nicholas Rivers start sixth, William Myers 18th due to a five-grid spot penalty and Robert Torres 20th.
 
Rivers had a great back and forth battle at the front of the field with the drivers trading positions constantly, with Rivers running as high as fourth at one point and finishing sixth. Myers found himself in a bit of an isolated island in his race and Torres collided with a spinning car on the opening lap of the race causing a DNF.
 
The team made a series of changes to the cars to help stay on top of the notoriously high tire degradation experienced at Barber Motorsports Park. Race 2 saw the team's drivers starting a bit farther back than preferred with Rivers 12th, Myers 23rd and Torres 28th. All three drivers had great races moving up numerous spots in the ultra-competitive F4 U.S. field. Rivers moved up five positions from 12th to seventh for yet another points-paying result. Myers moved up five positions as well from 23rd to 18th and Torres was up nine spots from 28th to 19th.
 
Race 3 grid, set on the previous race’s fastest lap, saw Rivers starting fourth, Myers 19th and Torres 25th.  Rivers had yet another exciting battle at the front of the field, vying for a podium position the entire race. Rivers came home with another top-five result finishing fourth, making it a three consecutive points scoring result for the very young rookie.
 
Myers did not move up, but his race pace drastically improved in the race from the day prior, causing him to threaten the cars in front, a very positive sign of him applying coaching provided from the team and good series of changes to the car for the Jamaican. Torres also finished the race where he started.  
 
For first time in history, the weekend saw a fourth race on the same weekend, making up for the rain out race at Mid Ohio the month prior.
 
Rivers grided up in the top-fvie. An early race spin dropped him all the way to the rear of the field. When the team needed a full course caution, this event unfortunately never saw one, going green the entire time. This made life difficult for Rivers, as he consistently set the same lap times as the eventual winner, leaving a ‘what if’ mindset for the team and driver. The incredibly strong pace for the Group-A Racing driver in the caution-free race was a true testament to the team's engineering staff and how they set the cars for the incredibly high tire degradation track. The shared data files amongst the series showed the Group-A Racing machine of  Rivers the fastest of all competitors in the high speed sectors of the track.
 
At the same time, Myers got stuck behind a slower car at the beginning of the race but finally got past mid-race. After that, he saw a massive improvement in his race pace in comparison to the leaders. Sadly, for the Jamaican the final race results didn’t truly tell the story of how much his race pace improved each race during the event.
 
Torres saw a good step in the positive direction, with the extra track time, as well as moving up five positions from his grid spot to where he finished. 
 
“All-in-all, I can’t really ask for much more for the team and drivers” said team manager Scarallo. “We naturally came into this event a bit behind having never been here with F4 and with all rookie lineup, plus William recovering from a big crash to finish the last event just one week ago. All three boys made tremendous progress, Nicholas at the very front of the grid all event and the race pace from all three was vastly improved in the caution free race to end the event. This is a good break for all the coaching and information to soak in to their heads from the compact first half of the season to then apply for the second half.” 
 
The team now goes into the mid-season break with seven weeks to get prepared for the Sebring International Raceway. Drivers interested in test & race opportunities contact Jonathan Scarallo 631-974-4379 info@GroupARacingTeam.com.  
 

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Group-A’s Dillon Newell Earns Breakthrough Win and Track Record

In only his fifth ever motor race of any kind, Group-A Racing Development Driver, Dillon Newell, earned his first career podium in race one. He would back that up with his first career pole in day 2 which was also a new track record. Lastly, capped that up with his first career win!
 
            Dillon Newell joined the Group-A Racing Development Program in January of 2019, having never driven any kind of motorized vehicle before. After completing his first Lucas Oil School that January, he entered his first ever race the following month in the Lucas Oil Formula Winter Series. From there, he competed in the final 3 events of the Lucas Oil Formula Series in the 2019 season, showing tremendous progress and development at a very rapid rate.  This all took place under the management and development of Jonathan Scarallo and the Group-A Racing Driver Development Program. 
 
            In preparation for his first full season of auto racing in the 2020 Lucas Oil Formula Series, Dillon entered the winter warm-up event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. This was only his 5th ever race event, ironically taking place on the exact anniversary of his first race event 1 year prior at WeatherTech.
 
It was a two-day event format with each day consisting of 1 practice, 1 qualifying and a race. Newell came in a bit behind having not participated in the extra lapping days earlier in the week due to school commitments. Despite playing catch up, Dillon put in a good performance to earn his best qualifying result of 3rd position. In the race Dillon got a great start to immediately jump up to second and on the leader’s gearbox. Newell put extensive pressure on the leader for the first half of the race, looking for a way past. They would catch some lap traffic, which didn’t go his way, causing a gap to appear between him and the race leader. The gap maintained for the remainder and Dillon would come home with his first career podium with a second-place finish. 
 
Overnight Dillon and Group-A Racing Driver Development Coach Jonathan Scarallo kept working to grind out details so he could come back stronger on the second day. Dillon did an excellent job executing all the details he was taught, to blitz the field with a fantastic lap to take the pole and set a new track record for the Lucas Oil Formula Series! In the race, Newell got a good jump to maintain the lead but now he had yesterday’s winner haunting him around the scenic 2.238 mile WeatherTech Raceway. With the roles reversed, Dillon was doing a great job of being mistake free and making his car appear wide, making life difficult for his rival. At exactly the half way point, Newell lost the lead going into the Andretti hairpin. He wasn’t fazed by it and instantaneously attacked the leader to re-claim the lead 3 corners later with a sharp move into turn 5. From there Dillon continued to be calm and click off fast laps to claim his first career victory in only his 5th ever race event, a great result after some rapid development from the young New Yorker.
 
“It was an incredibly good weekend for me” said Dillon Newell.  “I think that the work being put in through the 2019 season could not have been possible without Jonathan’s help.  Leading up to this race I have had an interesting season with some great progress being made and some good performances.  It really got all wrapped up together on race 2 of the 2020 Lucas Oil warm up race.  My qualifying was very strong which got me my first pole position of my career and first track record.  The race which followed was even more exciting for me because I had to work and fight for the position the entire race. I was racing with some very good drivers and one in particular, who would not shake off my tail.  We had a great battle to the finish but once I saw the checkered flag it all came together.  The excitement, the joy, and all the hard work and dedication finally paid off!  I have to thank all of the staff and instructors at Lucas Oil School Racing School for all of the help and dedication that they have given me.  My coach Jonathan Scarallo with Group-A Racing who has been with me throughout my entire racing career, and of course my mother who makes this all happen for me.  I cannot wait for the upcoming season with Lucas Oil and am excited to see the growth and improvements that I will make this season!” 
 
“I am beyond thrilled and excited for Dillon” commented Group-A Racing’s Jonathan Scarallo. “He has worked hard with me on and off track, which is why we have seen such a rapid development rate from him. We did a lot of prep work on the simulator ahead of time, specifically on race craft leading into this event and it obviously paid off massive dividends. It was super rewarding watching him defend and attack in the second race because he was doing everything he was taught by us on the simulator during our prep work. He has done a good job of instantly applying everything he’s taught, which is why we have seen such a great rate of development.”    
 
Drivers interested in being part of the Group-A Racing Driver Development Program or Group-A Racing’s Formula 4 United States team contact the Jonathan via info@GroupARacingTeam.com or 631-974-4379.

Group-A Racing Signs Jamaican International Talent William Myers

Group-A Racing is very pleased to announce its second full-time driver for the 2020 Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda season. Jamaican international talent William Myers will drive the No. 62 Group-A Racing Formula 4 car outfitted in a special Jamaican themed livery to proudly represent his Jamaican supporters.

“I am so excited about having William join us this year” said Group-A Racing team manager Jonathan Scarallo. “He was really quick in his first test back in November and he literally never dropped a wheel off or anything. He’s been able to provide our incredible engineers good feedback to help push the cars along and is a very welcomed addition. He will have a lot to learn as a rookie, but will be a very strong first year driver.” 

Myers got his start in racing during the 2008 season at the age of 11, racing Rotax Minimax karts. He progressed throughout the karting classes racing in national series such as Rok Cup, Florida Winter Tour etc. In 2015, Myers made the jump to cars, racing a Honda Civic EG, winning his first race. From there, he moved up to Modified production 2 class, winning both the 2016 and 2018 Championship. Most recently during the 2019 season, Myers jumped up to the Radical SR3 class in the Caribbean championship. In only his rookie year, William won the championship. Now for 2020, Myers will make his pro debut and race full time in the United States with Group-A Racing.

"I am extremely happy to join the F4 U.S. Championship with Group-A Racing’ stated Myers. “With limited seat time before the beginning of season as well as it being my first time racing at any of these tracks means I will have a lot of learning to do this year. I have no doubt the Group-A team and I will work together to be great competitors this coming season. I’m looking forward to a lot of learning, racing and fun!"

 Group-A Racing has reinvested into the team with a new Indy Car transporter for its F4 program. From all aspects of equipment and personnel, the New York-based team has been  aggressive in the off season to ensure its drivers have every tool needed to succeed, and best experience for their sponsors.

Group-A Racing will have another full-time driver announcement being released soon, leaving only 1 more seat available for the season. The team has been scheduling more testing for other participants. Drivers interested in testing, race & driver development seats contact Jonathan Scarallo 631-974-4379 info@GroupARacingTeam.com

Group-A Racing Pass 27 Cars To End The Weekend with 4th

Lindenhurst, New York (April 18, 2017) – The season opener for the 2017 FIA F4 United States Championship powered by Honda came to a close this past weekend. While the weekend got off to a slow start, Group-A Racing capped it off with a hard charge fight to the front earning a 4th place finish.

The team entered one car for this weekend with Jonathan Scarallo getting behind the wheel despite having not been in a car to race for 5 years. That along with the last minute nature had the team starting off a bit behind, but had constant improvement in the incredibly competitive 33 car field.

Qualifying was interrupted with red flag stoppages only allowing the team to put a time in good enough for 19th, only 1.061 off pole in the very tight field.

“Qualifying certainly did not go to plan” said Jonathan Scarallo. “We made a change to the car which was good but unfortunately never really got to put in a lap with the stoppages and no draft help. I think we can move forward in the race though.”

Scarallo got a good jump from the standing start to move up a few spots before a full course yellow came out only a handful of laps into the race. Restarts proved to be a strength for Jonathan despite not having racing in the past 5 years. He gained 3 more spots on the initial restart before passing New Zealander Brandon Leitich for 11th. Unfortunately yet another full course yellow came out and the race would end under that safety car period.

Race 2 saw Group-A Racing’s Jonathan Scarallo starting 15th and he would yet again get a good jump off the line to gain a few spots before a full course yellow coming out on lap 3 just like in race 1. Jonathan got yet another great restart to jump up to 8th and chasing down the cars in front to then quickly move up to 6th. The next lap he would get caught in a 4 wide scenario, which wisdom prevailed in the long run to back out, but pushed him back to 9th. Unfortunately, the full course yellow came out right after this and the race never got restarted again and had to settle for 9th.

More changes and work were done to the car to improve for the final race which was needed, since Scarallo was starting 18th for the final race of the weekend. As he did in the previous two races, a good jump off the line saw him gain 4 spots on the start and avoiding an opening lap crash allowed the Group-A Racing driver to move up to 10th in the opening two laps before the full course yellow came out. Yet again Scarallo got past a car on the restart, moving him up to 9th and made a 3 wide pass a few laps later to move up to 6th. Scarallo made quick work to catch the top 5 cars but was running out of time. He passed Brandon Leitich for 5th with three laps to go and got around Cape Motorsports Mathias Soler-Obel on the final lap for 4th just coming up short to get Forcier as well for the final spot on the podium.

“All-in-all this weekend has been very good. Naturally the competitor has taken over inside of me and I want better results, but I’m pleased with how everything went this weekend. I was worried that my driving and race craft would be very rusty since I have not raced since 2011, but I got over that very quickly and everybody with the Group-A Racing team did a great job, making the car better for me every single race. Were all going to do our homework and come back stronger for the next one at Indianapolis.”

Group-A Racing will see 2016 F4 U.S Championship runner up Konrad Czaczyk join them for the races at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (Mosport) and Circuit of the Americas. Drivers interested in testing and racing with Group-A Racing in the other 2017 F4 events contact them via 631-974-4379 or GroupARacing@aol.com

Group-A Racing Commits to F4 United States Championship With 4 Cars

Lindenhurst, New York (October 1st, 2015) - This time last year Group-A Racing was making preparations to compete in the inaugural season of the Formula Lites Series. The Formula Lites cars are built by Crawford composites, powered by Honda engines, run on Pirelli tires and sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing. Twelve months later Group-A Racing is pleased to announce the expansion of operations into the new F4 United States Championship. The F4 United States Championship is a new FIA sanctioned international series, with the cars built by Crawford Composites, powered by Honda engines, run on Pirelli tires and sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing with the FIA affiliation. The series will serve as a starting point for drivers making the transition from karts to cars. It will also serve as a feeder series to the Formula Lites Series after drivers have competed in the F4 Championship and are ready to move up.

Group-A Racing has already purchased four cars from Crawford and will have some of the first cars coming out of the factory. The aggressive approach is to make sure the team can be ‘first in best dressed’ for the inaugural season. This same approach was used for them with Formula Lites in 2015, which allowed the team to have a lot of success winning races, including a 1-2 sweep at VIR.

F4 is a global concept created by the FIA being used around the world. All the series are spec series with carbon chassis cars, paddle shift, and engines making 160HP. The concept is brought in to make economical equipment and operating cost while still giving all the latest technology and safety to the drivers. The series will be the only junior category in the United States at the moment that a driver can earn points to one day achieve a FIA super license to race in the pinnacle of motorsports - Formula 1.

“Formula 4 is the perfect introduction class for our program as a team,” said team manager Jonathan Scarallo. “We are all about driver development and we have been missing a proper introductory series to transfer the drivers from karts to cars. Formula 4 gives the drivers all the tools they need, with modern state of the art cars and fantastic commercial partners such as Honda, Pirelli, Crawford, SCCA, FIA etc. On top of that, it’s an economical series to run in creating a lot of value for the drivers. It will be a great training platform for drivers to get their start in cars and then move up the ladder with us to Formula Lites.”

The team is already in deep negotiations with numerous drivers to fill the four seats they are offering. Interested drivers can contact the team via 631-974-4379 or GroupARacing@aol.com.