Two wins, five podiums and six top-five results highlight the start of the 2020 F4 United States Championship Powered by Honda for Kiwi Motorsport. Dylan Tavella lead the way for the Texas based squad with two wins and three podiums while additional podium finishes have been delivered by Spike Kohlbecker and Kiwi Ronan Murphy, with Varun Choksey adding a top-ten, showing the true diversity and speed across the Kiwi Motorsport driver lineup.
“It has been a good start to the 2020 season, but we want more,” explained Kiwi Motorsport’s Teena Larsen. “Our goal has always been race wins and podium results, but we have our eyes on the championship at the end of the season as well.”
With results from round two at Mid-Ohio made official just last week, Dylan Tavella was granted the race win after finishing third on track. Showing speed with a legal car, Tavella (main picture) was elevated to the top step of the podium after competitors’ cars were found to have illegal components in post-race technical inspection. Placing three drivers solidly in the top-ten, Spike Kohlbecker and Varun Choksey were classified fourth and sixth respectively.
With the quick turnaround, Kiwi Motorsport was off to the Virginia International Raceway (VIR) less than three weeks later for rounds three, four and five of the 2020 season. Taking advantage of a Promoters Test Day on Thursday that provided drivers with an additional two hours of track time, Kiwi Motorsport fine-tuned their equipment to get the most speed possible at the fast but technical VIR circuit.
Spike Kohlbecker found his way to the podium in round three with a second-place result as his trio of teammates struggled with on track contact to finish down the running order.
“It was great to be back in the car at VIR which is a very long flowing track with very few hard-braking zones,” said Kohlbecker. “I’ll be ready for Barber, and I plan to be lightning-fast just like we were all weekend long at VIR.”
Regrouping for the second two wheel-to-wheel events of the weekend on Sunday, Tavella rose to the top stealing the race win with a late race pass while Kohlbecker garnered another top-five result in fourth. Tavella returned to the podium in round five with a second-place finish and was joined on the blocks by Ronan Murphy as he earned a third-place result and his first podium result of 2020.
“VIR was a really positive turnaround from Mid-Ohio,” commented Murphy. “I felt more on top of the car over the weekend and although qualifying was a little bit disappointing again, our race pace was very strong in all the races.
“It was awesome to be able to put that pace to good use, managing to put myself on the front row for race three and then going on to score a podium, which I think showed the potential of what is possible when everything comes together going forward from now.”
With a jam-packed schedule to start the season, Kiwi Motorsport will return to the track this weekend for a quadruple header at the famed Barber Motorsports Park. Sprawling over 880 acres, the Birmingham, Alabama facility is one of the premier racetracks in North America and will be the host to rounds six, seven and eight over the July 31st – August 2nd weekend.
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