Showing posts with label NACAM F4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NACAM F4. Show all posts

Saturday, 12 September 2020

Regina Sirvent

 


Regina Sirvent races stock cars and trucks in Mexico. She is a racewinner in pickup racing. 


2017 was her first season and she started early. She was 14 when she had her first race in a NASCAR pickup, after seven years of karting in Mexico and the USA. Her best finish in trucks was seventh, at Pachuca, and she was eleventh overall. She also did a part-season in Mexican Super Touring, in the Light class. Her car was a Chevrolet. She was only 30th on the leaderboard due to missing most of the early rounds, but she did manage two top-ten finishes, the best of these being an eighth at Mexico City. 


In 2018, she continued to divide her time between cars and trucks, competing in Mexican Super Touring and the Mikel's Trucks series. Driving a Chevy, she scored two podiums in Super Touring, a second at Amozoc and a third at Mexico City. She was fourteenth overall. In Trucks, she was tenth overall, despite not being as quick. Her best finish was eighth at Queretaro, one of five top-ten positions. 


In 2018, she also made her single-seater debut, racing in the NACAM F4 series at Aguascalientes. She scored one fifth and two seventh places. This was a one-off appearance.


2019 was mostly spent racing in Mikel's Trucks, where she earned a fourth place at Aguascalientes and five further top-ten finishes. She also made guest appearances in TC2000 and Super Touring 1 in Mexico, driving a Ford. TC2000 was not one of her greatest moments; she only finished one of her three races in 26th place, at Mexico City. Super Touring 1 was more fruitful and she came close to a podium at Mexico City, finishing fourth.


When the 2020 season finally got under way, she won her first race in Mikel's Trucks. Her victory at Queretaro followed a start from pole and she also picked up a fastest lap. The second race of the meeting gave her a second place. After a few mechanical problems mid-season, she won again at Queretaro, then finished third in Race 2, on her way to third in the championship.


In June 2020 she was announced as one of four teenaged drivers taking part in a shootout for a place in NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity programme. She drove a Legend car against the other candidates. 


Her NASCAR Mexico season in 2021 took in races in the Peak and Challenge series. She did six Challenge races and finished tenth in four of them, earning a 16th place in the championship. Her two Peak races at Tuxtla and Queretaro were not as successful, earning her 21st and 18th places.


A deal to run in the Truck championship again seems to have fallen through and she did not return to Trucks in 2022 either. She remained active in both the NASCAR Mexico and Challenge series, with the Challenge giving her the best results. She finished in the top ten of three of her five races, coming tenth at Tuxtla Gutierrez, eighth at Queretaro and ninth at Puebla.


NASCAR Mexico proved more of a challenge. Queretaro was her best circuit; she finished 16th there.


She was thirteenth in the 2023 NASCAR Mexico series, only four points away from the top ten. Her popularity led to her winning a fan vote to compete in an away race in Los Angeles. This went a little way to making up for the rumours about an ARCA race seat with the Venturini team, which proved to be untrue.


2024 was spent in the NASCAR Peak Challenge, driving a Chevrolet. She earned her first podium in the series at San Luis Potosi, finishing second. It was an inconsistent season, but she showed some real speed and was eighth in the championship.


She did one NASCAR Mexico race at the Coliseum in LA, finishing 18th.


(Image copyright Angel Ferretiz/NASCAR)

Tuesday, 27 March 2018

Alexandra Mohnhaupt


Alexandra Mohnhaupt is a Mexican driver racing in Formula 4 and Formula 3. In 2018, she became the first female driver to win a Formula 4 race.

She counts her home town as Puebla in Mexico, but she has both German and Mexican family. She races under a Mexican license and her career began there, in karting.

2015 was her debut season in senior racing, although she was only sixteen years old. She started in the NACAM F4 championship in Mexico. Out of thirteen races, she scored eight top-tens, the best of these being two sixth places, at Pegaso. One of these was from pole position. She was fourteenth in the championship.

The NACAM championship runs over the winter period. After the Mexican season finished in June 2016, she travelled to the UK to compete in the British F4 series. This proved a challenge for her, although by the end of her season, she was edging towards top-ten finishes, such as her eleventh place at Knockhill. She did six races, competing at Knockhill and Snetterton.

She raced in the NACAM series again from 2017 and was seventh overall, coming close to a podium finish at Toluca. This was one of five top-five finishes she earned that season. She was the leading driver for her team, MomoF4.

Her three British F4 guest spots were less successful. She entered the Snetterton round again and was fifteenth in all three races.

Another winter season in the NACAM series followed. She was immediately on the pace, with a third and two seconds in her first races at Mexico City. At her home track of Puebla, she won two of her three races, the first woman to win a Formula 4 race anywhere. This took her to second in the championship. She held second after a third, fourth and fifth at Aguascalientes.

Shortly after her Puebla wins, it was announced that she would be racing in the UK again, this time in the BRDC Formula 3 championship. She was due to be driving for Douglas Motorsport alongside Jamie Chadwick.

Alexandra never actually raced in F3 in the UK. She did take part in an official series test at Spa, but crashed. Her injuries were initially reported as being "mild concussion and bruising."

The day before the Yucatan rounds of NACAM F4, she pulled out of that championship, citing two causes. The first of these was neck injuries received in her Spa crash. The second revolved around the series' acceptance of another driver who had allegedly received a year-long drugs ban from IndyCar-sanctioned series. Her team, MomoF4, pulled out of the championship after the meeting.

Alexandra said in the press conference held to announce her retirement that she had not ruled out a return in future, but she was now concentrating on finishing her education. True to her word, she made a comeback five years later, returning to NACAM F4. It was a part-season but with some success; driving for RAM Racing, she was third twice in the first round at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The RAM deal ended after the next round at Queretaro, which yielded a fifth and two sixth places, but she rejoined with HRI Mexico for the final round at AHR and picked up a seventh and a sixth. She was ninth in the championship.

Switching direction entirely, she made her truck racing debut in 2024, contesting one round of the NASCAR Mexico Truck Series.

(Image copyright Liliana Velazquez Leon/Sintesis)