Czech-Canadian teenager Nicole Havrda will race in Formula Regional Americas for her first full year in single-seater racing.
The 16-year-old made her open-wheel debut last year in the top class of Formula Pro USA – FRegional Western – and finished fifth and fourth in her two races at Sonoma. It put her seventh in the standings of the lightly contested series.
She then drove a FRegional car in a Formula Libre-style club racing event at Buttonwillow Raceway, winning both races.
Following that, Havrda became one of Chennai Turbo Riders’ drivers in the Indian Racing League at the end of 2022. The series used open-top prototype sportscars, and with two top-five finishes she came 11th in the standings. Throughout last year, Havrda also represented Mercedes-Benz Canada with her racing exploits and also in media appearances for the brand.
She will spend 2023 with JMF Motorport, who ran her in FRegional last year. The John Farrow-fronted Canadian team is a regular in GT4 sportscars, and moved into single-seaters in 2022 for an extensive test programme with Havrda.
“I’m happy to announce my racing plans for the 2023 season. I will be racing with JMF Motorsports in the Ligier JS F3 car – competing in the FPro USA series, FRegional America and more races across America,” Havrda said.
Before FRegional, Havrda spent several years in karting and primarily in Canada. In 2020 she came 14th in the continental Challenge of the Americas series for ROK Junior karts, and the next year was 15th in Canada’s national Ron Fellows championship – also in the ROK Junior class.
She is the second driver to be announced as racing in FRegional Americas this year, following Jensen Global Advisors’ Oliver Westling.
The Swedish racer, who studies in the USA, started last year racing in US Formula 4 with the team and scored three times in the first four rounds. Jensen then chose to move Westling up to FRegional Americas, and finishing second in the last of his six races there lifted him to eighth in the standings.