Millville, NJ (September 20, 2018) – The best way to describe Dakota Dickerson’s Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda race weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park is “AWESOME”. In Dickerson’s words: “Clinching the Championship is a dream come true!”
Photo: Gavin Baker
With only two race events left in the season, DC Autosport with Cape Motorsports driver Dakota Dickerson welcomed a few sponsors who recently came on board to support him for the remainder of the 2018 season. Although these sponsors are based in Austin, Texas, they travelled all the way to New Jersey Motorsports Park to cheer him on at this past weekend’s F4 U.S. Championship races.
While Hurricane Florence was looming to the southeast, damp weather affected the 2.25-mile 12-turn Thunderbolt Raceway circuit at NJMP during Friday morning’s session. After the first practice, Dickerson described the track as being wet but a lot of fun to drive. “It’s really high speed in the first three corners that are fairly quick and then you get into the back half and it starts to slow down with a lot of long duration corners. It’s relatively flat as well. Racing-wise, the really long front straight will make for good racing.”
On Saturday afternoon, Dickerson’s #9 RoxBalden/Stress Engineering Services machine started 2nd on the grid under partly cloudy skies for Round 13. The young Californian had a bit of a slow start but managed to come back and keep his 2nd position until the end of what turned out to be an “all-green” race.
“It was a pretty good race overall” said Dickerson. “I didn’t get quite the jump on the start that I wanted to, then I made a mistake coming out of Turn 3, fell back to 3rd, then battled my way back up to 2nd. From there, we were trying to put pressure on Jose (Blanco), but couldn’t quite get it. We thought the lap traffic might be able to help us out a little but it wasn’t quite the opportunity to make the risk for the Championship, so we settled down in 2nd place for the finish. We still have good pace for the second race and it looks like we are starting P2 tomorrow, so from there, we’ll try and push for the win.”
Dickerson started from the second position for Sunday morning’s Round 14 but he had a flying start and took the lead as soon as the green flag flew. One lap later, the race was under caution resulting from a 2-car incident on the front straight. The goal at that point was to keep the rest of the 32-car field behind him on the re-start. After a second full-course yellow later in the race, the DC Autosport driver just kept his focus, stayed in front and won the race. The San Diego native was all smiles when asked to comment on his race.
“It was a really good race. We had a good start. I took first right at the first corner, and from there, all I did was try to hold off the other guys on the re-starts. I had pressure from Kent (Vaccaro) and then Joshua (Car) and that was a little tricky initially. But after that, it was all about keeping the pace, getting the win, and focusing on the last race of the weekend.”
Round 15 was not only another victory for Dakota Dickerson, it was the win that allowed him to clinch the F4 U.S. Championship. Dickerson was on fire. He started second again on the grid, moved into first place but during a re-start, Teddy Wilson passed him in Turn 1 after gaining speed on the front straight. Dickerson didn’t waste any time. The 21-year old driver took back the lead at Turn 7 and finished on the top step of the podium for the second time on Sunday.
“I feel great! It’s awesome to secure the Championship with these two wins today. Again, we had the pace to be able to extend the lead in this race. But when the full-course yellow came out, the pace car kind of bunched us back up again and the re-starts were a bit tricky with the long straight. That’s where Teddy (Wilson) got us on the outside of Turn 1 on the last re-start. I was able to make a move on him on the outside of Turn 7 with two laps to go, and from there, it was just a matter of putting our head down and getting that final win. It’s amazing to be able to say that we’ve secured the Championship with one weekend left. All the DC Autosport guys put in so much hard work throughout the season. It’s been a battle, so to be able to win like this is just incredible. I need to thank the Team and my sponsors RoxBalden, Stress Engineering Services, Belterra Eyecare, Austin Traffic Signal Construction Company, and Sabelt. Without them, I wouldn’t have made it this far.”
Photo: Dickerson Racing
“The whole Team is so happy for Dakota,” said DC Autosport Team Owner/Engineer Don Conner as he reflected on the three days. “I think the whole weekend went well. I hadn’t been here in a long time, so it was almost like coming to a new track, but we got up to speed really fast. Dakota did a great job. We qualified well, had good races. It was nice to be back on the podium in such a strong way. Two wins and a second place and a Championship. We couldn’t ask for any better. We didn’t expect to wrap it up this weekend because the competition has been so strong all season. It’ll be nice to show up for the last race at COTA and be a lot more relaxed than we would have been otherwise.”
Be sure to join us for the final Formula 4 U.S. Championship race weekend of the season on October 19-21, 2018 at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). All sessions can be followed on Race Monitor.
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Dakota Dickerson’s race fans can follow him on his website dakotadickersonracing.com, Instagram (@dickersonracing), Facebook (Dakota Dickerson Racing) and on Twitter (@DickersonRacing).
About Dakota Dickerson Racing:
Dakota Dickerson is a third-generation racer from San Diego, CA. The 21-year old has been racing since he was 6 years old and is currently racing with DC Autosport with Cape Motorsports in the Formula 4 U.S. Championship. In his first two years of racing cars he won a Driver Development scholarship from Bryan Herta Autosport (2-time Indianapolis 500 winning team), a Karts to Cars scholarship from Skip Barber Racing School, was chosen to be one of two drivers to represent the United States overseas via the Team USA Scholarship and was the 2016 USF2000 Mazda Scholarship Driver. With this success, he hopes to continue on to the Verizon INDYCAR Series.
About SCCA Pro Racing:
SCCA Pro Racing is a division of the Sports Car Club of America, Inc. -- a 65,000-member organization dedicated to motorsports. SCCA Pro Racing provides full-service organization, operation, and sanctioning for numerous professional racing series such as Trans Am® and Formula E.
About the Formula 4 U.S. Championship:
FIA F4 is designed as entry-level open-wheel racing for participants, around a contemporary, modern, cost conscious formula. SCCA Pro Racing and its chosen partners embrace these ideals and support this vision through advanced technology and products. The selected F4 power plant is a production-based engine powering the Honda Civic® Type R® recently launched in Europe, tuned to meet FIA-mandated output of approximately 160 hp. The engine and the ECU are sealed to provide parity and compliance. The Ligier JS F4 carbon fiber chassis, the Pirelli Tires, and Honda engine are assembled in Denver, North Carolina by Onroak Automotive North America.
Anne Roy | annedroy0@gmail.com | www.dakotadickersonracing.com