Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Nicolas Ambiado reclaimed the Formula Regional Americas points lead in round three on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.
Atlantic Racing Team’s Daniel Quimby and Toney Driver Development’s Lincoln Day were absent, but series veteran Hayden Bowlsbey returned with Crosslink Competition and Le Mans 24 Hours class winner and USF Pro 2000 podium finisher Bijoy Garg took over Day’s car to complete a 14-car grid.
Rain on Friday led to practice being cancelled, but qualifying did take place and Toney’s Brady Golan took pole by 0.183 seconds over Jett Bowling. His Kiwi Motorsport team-mate Nicolas Ambiado was a further 0.043s behind, and Crosslink’s pre-event points leader Titus Sherlock was fourth. Garg was seventh, 1.018s off pole, on his first single-seater return.
Bad weather also inflicted Saturday, and race one was postponed to Sunday. As a result, race three got moved to this week’s Mid-Ohio round.
Race one was dry, and the top three went side-by-side straight away. Bowling seized the lead into turn one on the outside, and Kiwi’s Bruno Ribeiro took third from Ambiado at turn three.
At the end of the back straight, Golan and Ribeiro had huge lock-ups, with Golan going off and falling down the field.
Sherlock concluded lap one in second, but retired on lap two. Ambiado inherited second, and was two seconds behind Bowling by lap three, while Golan was 10th. The gap decreased, then a caution period began on lap five due to Crosslink’s Barrett Wolfe getting beached.
Racing resumed on lap eight, and Ambiado attempted a switchback move on Bowling at turn two. That was the only pressure Bowling would come under, but he did not pull away until the final laps as he took his maiden win.
Ambiado locked up at turn seven on lap 17 of 20, Ribeiro and Stati slipstreamed past him as lap 18 began, and he dropped back by 10s before the finish.
Crosslink’s Alex Benavitz held fifth at the restart, and was passed by Atlantic’s Connor Roberts on lap 10. He regained the position when Roberts ended his race in the pits with three laps to go.
There was a race-long battle behind, which Bowlsbey came out on top of after he and Atlantic’s Lawley passed Garg on the last lap. Golan had recovered to seventh by lap 12, but fell back down the order a few laps later then came to a halt on the last lap.
Ambiado set the fastest lap so got race two pole ahead of Ribeiro, Bowling, Stati and Garg. Bowling took the lead at the opening corner, and almost hit Ambiado when he locked up on the run to turn one a lap later.
On lap five, Ambiado went around the outside of Bowling at turn one then gradually pulled away to win.
Sherlock, with a tyre life advantage due to his earlier retirement, passed Stati for fourth on lap 18 while Garg held off Golan for sixth until a turn seven lock-up on lap 20 of 22.
Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Jett Bowling Kiwi Motorsport 31m04.831s
2 Bruno Ribeiro Kiwi Motorsport +3.066s
3 Nicolas Stati Kiwi Motorsport +4.067s
4 Nicolas Ambiado Kiwi Motorsport +13.287s
5 Alex Benavitz Crosslink Competition +15.581s
6 Hayden Bowlsbey Crosslink Competition +22.437s
7 James Lawley Atlantic Racing Team +22.856s
8 Bijoy Garg Toney Driver Development +24.535s
9 Brady Golan Toney Driver Development +1 lap
10 Connor Roberts Atlantic w/ Team Roberts +3 laps
Pole: Golan, 1m22.227s
Fastest lap: Ambiado, 1m22.611s
Race 2 (22 laps)
1 Ambiado 30m46.876s
2 Bowling +1.572s
3 Ribeiro +2.088s
4 Titus Sherlock Crosslink Competition +6.836s
5 Stati +9.926s
6 Golan +12.800s
7 Garg +15.152s
8 Roberts +24.654s
9 Benavitz +34.504s
10 Lawley +36.014s
FL: Ambiado, 1m22.958s
Chamionship standings
1 Ambiado 105 2 Sherlock 99 3 Ribeiro 98 4 Bowling 91 5 Golan 72 6 Stati 62 7 Daniel Quimby 40 8 Benavitz 29 9 Roberts 28.5 10 Lawley 23.5