Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography (Stati pictured left and Quimby pictured right)

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One of the closest title fights in American open-wheel racing this year will feature no Americans at all.

Both hailing from Australia, Nicolas Stati and Daniel Quimby have both put together stellar seasons abroad in their time racing in the Formula 4 United States Championship and are separated by 5.5 points with three races remaining at the Circuit of the Americas next weekend.

Stati will enter the weekend sitting on 187 points and Quimby has 181.5. Quimby enters with a lot of momentum, having won each of the three races F4 US held in their last round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Stati and Quimby represent two teams with very different histories in F4 US. Stati races for Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport, a powerhouse in the series which has dominated the series since many of their major competitors have departed for other junior categories. Crosslink have won the F4 US team’s title already through the efforts of Stati and teammates Alex Crosbie and Barrett Wolfe, sitting fourth and sixth in the standings.

Quimby, on the other hand, drives for the single-car Atlantic Racing Team which has been on a steady climb upward as the years have progressed. Last year, with James Lawley, Atlantic’s lone car finished 23rd in F4 US. Although the amount of drivers in the standings has fallen from 44 in 2023 down to 7 in 2024, a driver’s championship for Atlantic would do a lot for the young team in only their second season.

Additionally, while it is improbable, it is worth noting that Connor Roberts of his family’s Team Roberts Racing and Crosslink’s aforementioned Crosbie could mathematically win the championship from 37.5 and 43.5 points back of Stati. For that to happen, both championship frontrunners to have a significantly worse performance in Austin than they have had at any other race this season.

As mentioned previous, Quimby has the momentum. Even with the first race at Canadian Tire being restricted to half points, he still was able to claw 26.5 points back during the weekend. The first race of Austin could be all that Quimby needs in order to seize the championship and hold off his national counterpart.

Stati did not have a terrible weekend at Canadian Tire by any means, he still was on the podium twice and managed to finish fourth in the lone race he missed it. Also, the Circuit of the Americas is a considerably long track with lots of elevation changes. The only track that’s longer than that on the F4 US calendar is Road America, a track where Stati won the opener and began building his championship gap.

Even on his down weeks, Stati is still consistently always near the top. He has landed on the podium at least twice in every race weekend and if he keeps that up in Austin, he’ll join 2023 champion Patrick Woods-Toth as the only two drivers in series history to achieve that feat in every race weekend of the season.

Connor Roberts may be on the outside looking in for this title race, but one more thing to note is that his four straight podiums is the longest active streak in the series. Roberts, who, funnily enough, is also Australian, is in the best form he has had all season.

If you’d like to learn more about the series in the lead-up to the battle, you can find info about the series and the schedule of events that weekend here. If you wish to watch the races, you can do so for free on YouTube at SpeedTour TV.