Yahoo Autos Costello, Woods-Toth split Sunday F4 US wins at Road America
Michael Costello was declared the race two winner in Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) competition at Road America. The driver of the No. 19 Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4 was awarded the win following a stewards’ decision that determined that Frankie Mossman (No. 6 JHDD / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4)—who had crossed the finish line first—had actually jumped the initial start. Costello’s victory was the first of his F4 U.S. career.
Patrick Woods-Toth (No. 27 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) started on the pole after winning Race 1 yesterday. However, Mossman (No. 6 JHDD / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4) kept it side-by-side and went wide to take command of the race by the time the field reached Turn 1. With Woods-Toth in hot pursuit, the No. 27 was able to retake the lead between Turns 4 and 5, holding the position through the next several turns until contact deeper in the field brought out a full-course caution.
With the field regrouped, Mossman found himself with another chance at the point position as the race returned to green a few laps later. As they crossed the line to restart the race, Mossman peeked to the left of Woods-Toth, looking for the right opportunity to retake the top position. Racing through Turn 1 side-by-side on Hankook tires, Mossman emerged as the leader. But with the top five all within five car lengths, Woods-Toth immediately started to feel pressure from behind with Michael Costello (No. 19 JHDD / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4), Jesse Lacey (No. 16 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) and Alex Berg (No. 08 MySim.ca/Rhode & Liesenfeld/Easy Drift/Penn Elcom Online/Dae Systems Ligier JS F4) all looking for their chance to move up the running order. Costello was able to pull side-by-side with Woods-Toth and completed the pass as they drove toward Turn 3. Then, it was Lacey applying pressure to his teammate Woods-Toth. By the time they reached Turn 5, Costello had settled into second and Lacey took the third position—remaining in those same positions until the checkered flag waved.
Following the race, the stewards reviewed a report of Mossman already rolling as the lights went out. With a false start determined, they issued a 10-second penalty, which dropped Mossman from the top step of the podium to 10th in the running order.
On the final results, Costello took the win, followed by teammate Lacey, and Berg in third. Mossman was officially scored 10th, finishing 9.701s behind the leader.
