Uruguayan driver Maite Cáceres faced a challenging weekend in the fourth round of the Ligier JS F4 championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park, but still scored valuable points as she now aims to end the season strongly at Circuit of the Americas.
Uruguayan talent Maite Cáceres faced a challenging fourth round of the Ligier JS F4 championship, enduring a frustrating weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park where she couldn’t reach on the podium for the first time this season.
On a track where she had never driven before, Cáceres battled with an underperforming car throughout the weekend - before some changes in the final race finally saw the Uruguayan returning to fight with front-running pace. Unfortunately, misfortune continued to hamper her weekend, as a contact after a safety car restart resulted in her first DNF of the season.
Nevertheless, Cáceres fought elbows out and made the most out of the equipment in the first two races, scoring some valuable points.
The young Uruguayan aims to continue gaining experience in international motorsport in her second US-based season in F4 machinery, after racing in the F4 US in 2022 before contesting the inaugural F1 Academy championship.
Returning to International Motorsport for the 2024 Ligier JS F4, Maite had a brilliant season so far, with podiums at each of the first three rounds, including a second place at the season opener at NOLA as her best finish and eight top-5 results in the first 9 races. Cáceres' pace was always strong enough to battle for the win, and she often missed the top step of the podium by small margins.
With the good results achieved so far, Maite entered the weekend fourth in the standings with 107 points. Her first visit to the 3.610-kilometer track located in Millville, New Jersey, however, proved to be the most challenging to date.
Maite was eighth fastest in the first practice session and ninth in the second session, although heavily disrupted by red flags, which limited her laps and hampered her team's ability to work on the setup.
In the Saturday morning qualifying session, a red flag in the opening minutes also interrupted the session. Maite was in P9 as the session resumed, and although she improved her lap times to 1:22.9, she stayed in ninth, with Hauanio remaining unchallenged for pole position. Despite the difficult qualifying, Cáceres proved in previous rounds that she could often recover significantly as the weekend progressed.
Starting Race 1 from P9, Maite got off to a great start, immediately passing one car off the line and another into Turn 1. Kekai Hauanio retained the lead from pole, ahead of Majman and Szuch, with Maite already up to sixth after one lap. The top two were pulling away, but Cáceres was ready to pick up the pieces from a four-car group running just behind. Nolan and Szuch battled side by side, with Maite running a few tenths behind. Zelenka spun at Turn 1 on lap 2 but managed to rejoin without the race being neutralized.
Meanwhile, Hauanio continued to lead unchallenged as the championship leader broke away from Majman. Teddy Musella made up positions and passed both Cáceres and Nolan on lap 5. The International Motorsport driver went for a move one lap later and reclaimed sixth with a clean pass on Nolan.
Cáceres now had Szuch in her sights but also had to keep Nolan behind as the two continued to run separated by half a second. She held on well as they continued to extend their advantage to the group of cars behind, which were over 10 seconds adrift.
Sterling and Wolosz spun in unrelated incidents, but the race remained green.
Majman, meanwhile, had caught Hauanio and the two started to battle closely before the lead changed hands on lap 7. A small mistake by Hauanio at Turn 1 gave Majman the chance to breathe on lap 13, as he gained a couple of seconds.
During this part of the race, Cáceres didn't quite have the pace to catch Szuch ahead, but she was comfortably keeping Nolan at bay, with the race entering its final 10 minutes.
Maite in fact clocked her personal best on lap 16, setting a 1:22.844 that gained her a few more tenths on her rival. Crucially, it also allowed her to catch Drew Szuch with 7 minutes left on the clock. The Uruguayan was again three tenths faster and increased the pressure. However, a fast lap by Nolan resulted in Cáceres defending again with a little over one minute to go.
Nolan attempted an overly optimistic move into Turn 3, and Maite, in order to avoid contact, had to go wide and onto the grass, ultimately spinning out. The incident cost her two positions, and she crossed the finish line in P8 after an unfortunate first race, which still resulted in some valuable points.
Sunday morning had an early start for the second race of the weekend, with the grid shaped by the fastest laps in Race 1. Brad Majman took off from pole position after his first win in the series and lined up alongside Kekai Hauanio and ahead of Teddy Musella and Harbir Dass. Maite Cáceres started from sixth on the grid.
Maite had a good start, moving straight up to fifth. However, with Nolan and Szuch right behind, she lost two positions on the first lap. Ahead, Majman held off Hauanio, with Musella a further second behind.
On an older set of tyres, Cáceres fell behind Zelenka, but on lap three, she started to post more competitive times and opened a gap to the cars behind, just before the deployment of the first caution caused by a spin by Cristopher Parrish.
One lap later, on the restart, Majman was surprised by Hauanio. Maite had a clean restart, kept Pollack behind, and tried to challenge Zelenka, although it was still clear that the car was not fully cooperating with her, and she was trying to hang on, making the most of the situation.
Maite set her first times in the 1:22 pace and kept improving, but she had to watch her mirrors from Parrish, trailing the International Motorsport car only a few tenths behind.
Majman set the new fastest lap of the race and put pressure on Hauanio, who made a mistake on lap 10, dropped a wheel off, and fell to fifth.
Cáceres struggled for pace and lost 8th to Parrish on lap 11; she gave it her all to stay close and improved her times each lap, staying within one second of Parrish.
While Majman could stretch his legs in the lead, Musella, Hauanio, and Szuch battled hard for the podium, with Hauanio recovering to second and also taking advantage of a similar mistake from Musella.
Maite's pace improved again towards the end, and she caught Bacon Zelenka, who had lost seventh to Parrish. Maite engaged in a close fight and then snatched eighth, having pressured Zelenka into a mistake.
On lap 21, Cáceres was battling Pollack when there was contact and she went off into the grass, falling to P9.
Young Australian Brad Majman took back-to-back victories, almost 4 seconds clear of Hauanio and Dass. The difficult weekend continued for Cáceres, who took the chequered flag in P9, but was later demoted to 10th after a 5-second penalty.
Majman started again from pole position in the final contest of the weekend on Sunday afternoon, ahead of new championship leader Hauanio, Szuch, and Dass. Maite Cáceres lined up from ninth, with some setup changes made just before the race and a fresher set of tyres.
Maite had a superb start, passing Zelenka and Parrish into Turn 1 and immediately attacking Nolan and Musella, slotting into seventh. Meanwhile, Hauanio and Majman traded positions ahead for the lead, which changed hands at the end of lap 1.
Cáceres was definitely faster and made a pass stick on Nolan and Szuch, moving up to fifth, marking a really strong first few laps for the Uruguayan. Musella was next in her sights: she pulled away from the cars behind and chased Musella, who set the fastest lap of the race as he started battling Dass. Once the former moved up to third, Maite closed in on Dass, who was less than 2 seconds up the road.
Running on very competitive pace, Cáceres caught the duo ahead by setting her best laps, consistently in the low 1:22s. Just after she clocked a 1:22.133 on lap 9, the safety car was deployed for an accident involving Athan Sterling, who went off and into the barriers.
This was finally the chance for Maite to battle with the front runners in the final 11 minutes of the race: she had a brilliant restart and took the inside line going side by side with Dass. Unfortunately, the two made contact into Turn 1, with both ending in the gravel. Cáceres ultimately parked her #6 International Motorsport Ligier a few corners later.
This was an unfortunate end to a really challenging weekend, although the Uruguayan proved that she had the pace to run up front in Race 3 and that she had worked hard to find a solution throughout the weekend, succeeding in catching up with the leaders.
Majman swept the weekend with three race victories, as Hauanio and Musella traded positions for second, with the Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport driver ending up on top, outscoring his title rival once again.
“A weekend to forget,” Cáceres commented. “I just have to take away as many positives as possible, learn from everything else, and turn the page!”
Now fifth in the drivers' standings, Cáceres aims to end the Ligier JS F4 season on a high, with the final round scheduled for 31 October to 3 November at Circuit of the Americas, Texas, where she has raced before in F4 US, USF Juniors, and F1 Academy.
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