Cooper Shipman Takes Pole at NOLA Season Opener

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    Cooper Shipman Takes Pole at NOLA Season Opener

    AVONDALE, La. (March 28, 2025) – Cooper Shipman secured his first-career pole in his Formula 4 United States Championship (F4 U.S.) debut at NOLA Motorsports Park on Friday afternoon. Recording a 1:39.178 lap time, it was Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F422) who topped the time sheets with a 0.039-second advantage over Shipman (No. 14 Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F422). However, a tire rule violation during the second practice session dropped Hauanio five positions on the official grid, leaving the Crosslink Motorsports driver to roll off sixth. Now, rookie driver Shipman will lead the field down the starting grid, with two-time F4 U.S. winner Alex Popow (No. 55 Dr. Michael Thompson MS DDS PPLS Ligier JS F422) to his outside.

     

         SEE MORE:  Official Grid

     

    Shipman topped the time sheets during the morning practice, leading Hauanio by 0.506 seconds. Popow was third in that session, just 0.820 seconds off the pace. During the afternoon practice, Hauanio took the top spot, bettering Clemente Huerta Raab (No. 17 Velox USA Ligier JS F422) by 1.118 seconds. Popow was once again third on the speed charts.

     

         SEE MORE: Practice 1 Results

         SEE MORE: Practice 2 Results

     

    Race 1 goes green tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. CT. A live stream of the event will be available at YouTube.com/SpeedTourTV, with live timing and scoring accessed via Race Monitor. On Sunday, SPEED SPORT 1 will carry live coverage of the series for their final race of the weekend. Additional news and updates will be posted on the series’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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