LEXINGTON, Ohio. (June 22, 2025) – Gastón Irazú extended his championship lead in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship (Ligier JFC), climbing atop the podium at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday morning. In a race filled with three-wide battles and intense racing, Irazú (No. 42 Elia Group / Baly / Canal 4 / Ancap / Champagne Racing Ligier JS F4) held off hard charges from both Pablo Benites Jr. (No. 44 Scuderia Buell Ligier JS F4) and Daniel Cará (No. 10 Tenuta Foppa & Ambrosi Wines / WorkHub / Cará Origin Motorsports Ligier JS F4) to secure his third win of the 2025 season. Starting from the pole position, Irazú was immediately challenged by Cará from the second the lights went out. Racing two-wide through the keyhole, the two began a cat and mouse game that lasted the entire 30 minutes. Behind them, Benites Jr. had jumped forward from his sixth-place starting position to claim third by the completion of the first lap.
A restart following an early safety car gave the trio another shot at the battle for first. While Irazú initially took the lead, Cará was able to capitalize when the Uruguayan went wide in Turn 5. The next lap, it was Benites Jr. who pulled wheel to wheel with Irazú while racing through the keyhole to take second. The three raced in that order until they approached the 10-minute-to-go mark, finding themselves nose-to-gearbox racing toward Turn 3, before flanking three-wide into Turn 4, with Irazú emerging as the leader. Slowly pulling a gap, Irazú had to overcome one last challenge as the safety car was deployed for the final time, leading to a one-lap dash to the finish. Up to the challenge, Irazú led the field across the finish line with Benites Jr. in his mirrors and Cará following in third.
WATCH THE STREAM: Stream Race 2 from Mid-Ohio
Notes of Interest:
- After missing the podium for the first time in 2025 during yesterday’s Race 1, Gaston Irazú returned to Victory Lane to step atop the podium for his third win of the season in Race 2.
- Pablo Benites Jr. returned to Ligier JFC for the first time since the 2024 season opener at NOLA Motorsports Park. Today’s runner-up finish marks his first Ligier JFC podium.
- With a third-place finish, Daniel Cará scored his fourth podium of 2025. He currently ranks third in the championship point standings.
- It was an all-South American podium today, with Irazú hailing from Uruguay, Benites Jr. from Argentina and Cará representing Brazil.
- Champagne Racing (Irazú), Scuderia Buell (Benites Jr.) and Cará Origin Motorsports (Cará) each had drivers on today’s podium.
“I’m really happy,” said Irazú after climbing from the car. “It was a really good race, and I’m happy to win again in this competition. We had good battles with Pablo [Benites Jr.] and [Daniel] Cará. Yesterday I made a mistake, but luckily, I was able to win today. I’m really, really happy. The team—they work really hard. I have to thank them, my mechanic, my sponsors and my family for all of this.”
READ MORE: Round 8 Official Results
Ligier JFC will contest their final race of the Mid-Ohio SpeedTour this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. ET, with the event streaming live on SpeedTour.TV. Additional news and updates will be posted on the series’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.