Home Formula RegionalFRegional Americas Kyle Kirkwood gets third F3 Americas hat-trick at Road Atlanta

Kyle Kirkwood gets third F3 Americas hat-trick at Road Atlanta

by Ida Wood

Kyle Kirkwood closed in on the inaugural Formula 3 Americas title with three more wins at Road Atlanta.

The Abel Motorsports drivers comtinued his 100% tally of poles in qualifying, beating Global Racing Group pair Benjamin Pedersen and Baltazar Leguizamon by four tenths of a second.

Pedersen briefly challenged Kirkwood at the start of the first race, but Kirkwood had already pulled away when the safety car was called out to recover John Paul Southern Jr’s car, which had been suffering from mechanical problems all weekend, and did not take part in the remaining races.

Leguizamon took second place from his team-mate after the restart, while deteriorating tyres for Kirkwood’s team-mate Jacob Abel meant championship debutant Parker Locke was able to snatch fourth.

In the second race Pedersen hung onto Kirkwood a little longer, but still found himself being distanced and then coming under pressure from Leguizamon and Locke.

Locke went off track and caused a safety car, making Pedersen’s job harder, but he won his squabble with Leguizamon for second and moved into third in the standings.

Pedersen was even stronger in the final race, but once again Kirkwood beat him to victory, with Leguizamon finishing third. The tight fight is now solely between Kirkwood and Leguizamon.

Results
Race 1 (24 laps)
1 Kyle Kirkwood Abel Motorsports 35m54.086s
2 Baltazar Leguizamon Global Racing Group +2.919s
3 Benjamin Pedersen Global Racing Group +7.572s
4 Parker Locke Global Racing Group +12.413s
5 Jacob Abel Abel Motorsports +13.191s
Ret John Paul Southern Jr Southern Motorsports
Pole: Kirkwood, 1m18.136s
Fastest lap: Kirkwood, 1m19.568s

Race 2 (27 laps)
1 Kirkwood 35m44.605s
2 Pedersen +12.124s
3 Leguizamon +12.429s
4 Abel +25.553s
5 Locke +1m17.402s
FL: Kirkwood, 1m18.707s

Race 3 (24 laps)
1 Kirkwood 35m52.034s
2 Pedersen +1.840s
3 Leguizamon +2.475s
4 Abel +6.744s
Ret Locke
FL: Locke, 1m20.040s

Championship Standings
1 Kirkwood 293 ??2 Leguizamon 205 ??3?Pedersen 102 ??4?Southern 84 ??5 Abel 79 ??6?Locke 22 ? 7 Peter Portante 12