Jacob Abel moved into the Formula 3 Americas championship lead at Road Atlanta after taking his first two wins in the championship.
Abel was firmly in the shadow of title-dominating team-mate Kyle Kirkwood last year, but is now Abel Motorsports’ only driver.
He started the season with a podium at Barber Motorsports Park, and with Road Atlanta qualifying being rained off it meant he started second on the grid on the basis of his points position. Benjamin Pedersen, who should’ve been ahead of him, was absent due to a clashing BRDC British F3 commitment.
Dakota Dickerson was the only person to start ahead of Abel, but couldn’t match him in the dry conditions of the race and slipped behind Abel and Baltazar Leguizamon.
Behind them the field was spread out, with James Roe Jr beating Dominic Cicero II to fourth place. Cicero, 39, is a Masters Cup entrant and raced in the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup back in 2004.
Fastest lap in race one put Dickerson up front again for race two, and this time Dickerson looked assured for victory. As the race went on it started to rain though, with Abel actually being one of the first to be caught out. When the track dried out it was Dickerson who went off though, with Abel having recovered from his earlier mishap to inherit the lead.
He had a five second lead at one point, but in the final few laps the was dramatically cut down by Parker Locke and Austin Kaszuba.
The thrice-lapped Kent Vaccaro set the fastest lap, putting him just ahead of Dickerson for the race three grid. This time Dickerson didn’t waste the opportunity and dominated the race after passing Vaccaro early on. A fierce battle for second took place behind, with Leguizamon leading Abel and the surprise package of John Paul Southern Jr.
Third place for Abel means he holds a three point lead over Dickerson, with 2018 runner-up Leguizamon now up to third in the standings.
Results round-up
Race 1 (22 laps)
1 Jacob Abel Abel Motorsports 35m26.807s
2 Baltazar Leguizamon Global Racing Group +1.087s
3 Dakota Dickerson Global Racing Group +1.992s
4 James Roe Jr Global Racing Group +7.882s
5 Dominic Cicero Velocity Racing Developments +12.980s
6 Austin Kaszuba Kiwi Motorsport +16.955s
7 Parker Locke Velocity Racing Developments +18.482s
8 Shea Holbrook Monentum Motorsports +19.093s
9 Blake Upton Global Racing Group +20.086s
10 Logan Cusson Jensen Global Advisors +33.153s
Fastest lap: Dickerson, 1m19.518s
Race 2 (22 laps)
1 Abel 34m31.827s
2 Locke +0.641s
3 Kaszuba +1.325s
4 Holbrook +2.420s
5 John Paul Southern Jr Southern Motorsports +4.676s
6 Upton +5.418s
7 Dickerson +2 laps
8 Cusson +3 laps
9 Kent Vaccaro Momentum Motorsports +3 laps
Ret Cicero
FL: Vaccaro, 1m19.116s
Race 3 (27 laps)
1 Dickerson 35m50.093s
2 Leguizamon +6.337s
3 Abel +7.467s
4 Southern +8.058s
5 Kaszuba +38.374s
6 Roe +44.612s
7 Upton +46.064s
8 Locke +57.871s
9 Cusson +1m05.962s
10 Holbrook +1m06.022s
FL: Dickerson, 1m18.997s
Championship standings
1 Abel 92? ?2 Dickerson 89? ?3 Leguizamon 46? ?4 Pedersen 43? ?5 Roe Jr 38? ?6 Kaszuba 37? ?7 Locke 31? ?8 Southern 26? ?9 Holbrook 25? ?10 Vaccaro 19