Jesse Lacey has become the latest Australian to win a race overseas after he secured a commanding victory in the Formula 4 United States Championship at Virginia International Raceway.

Commencing the final race of the weekend from pole position, Lacey maintained his lead in the initial part of the race and managed to build a considerable gap throughout, facing little competition from rival drivers until eventually crossing the line half a second ahead of the next best driver. 

His first win was the perfect way to round out what had been a troubled round up until that point, where he suffered his two worst results of the year with 12th and 16th respectively. 

Also competing in the United States, Stephen and Brenton Grove unfortunately didn’t enjoy the same success after being unable to crack the top 10 in the Intercontinental GT Challenge round in Indianapolis. 

The duo were on the back foot early after qualifying second-to-last in their Porsche GT3 R 992, but showed some pace throughout the sole race of the weekend, moving up five positions to finish in 15th.  

However, they didn't walk away empty handed after their position was enough to claim third place in the Independent Cup after eight hours of racing. 

Another driver forced to make up ground on the weekend was Taylor Gill in the FIA Rally Star’s Saaremaa Rally in Estonia, with an issue to his Ford Fiesta Rally 3 on the opening stage of the event, which required the 19-year-old and co-driver Daniel Brkic to play catch-up for the rest of the rally.  

The duo showed constant improvement throughout and picked up multiple top five class finishes across the weekend, including a class-third place in SS10.

The New South Welshman eventually secured fourth in class and 20th outright but most importantly, he was the highest placed FIA Rally Star driver out of the six competing individuals, edging out local driver Romet Jürgenson by 23 seconds. 

While overall results didn’t go his way, Gill was still pleased with the event and the opportunity to learn and gain valuable experience on the roads of Estonia.  

“Unfortunately, our weekend was basically doomed 500 metres into the first stage when the car stopped. From then on out it was all about gaining the experience on these fast and tricky roads,” Gill wrote on social media.  

“Our road position on Saturday basically made it impossible to set competitive times but on the flip side it gave us a good chance to learn to drive in deep ruts, not to mention the rain and mud on top of that. 

“Overall, it’s a bit of mixed emotions leaving this event, for sure it’s not the result we were after but I feel we made some good steps forward with the commitment level on these fast Baltic roads and bagged some crucial experience for the future.” 

Another rising star in James Piszcyk was also on show during the weekend, as he cemented his spot in the British Formula 4 Championship top five for the season after a pair of fourth-place finishes during the finale at the famous Brands Hatch.  

The South Australian qualified in fourth to begin the weekend, holding the position for race one despite pressure from behind from Japan’s Kanato Le.  

Not far behind Le in the opening were the other two Australians in Patrick Heuzenroeder and Noah Lisle, who finished sixth and seventh respectively.  

Piszcyk was again the best of the three in the reverse grid format race two, before securing his second fourth place finish of the weekend in the final outing to leapfrog James Higgins for fifth on the standings.

Heuzenroader narrowly missed out on a second top-10 finish in the third race with 11th to end the year in 19th overall, while Lisle finished a few places back in 14th to end the year in 10th.