Photo: FR Americas
Titus Sherlock won all three of Formula Regional Americas’ races at Mosport in Canada to tighten up the title fight.
The Crosslink Competition driver started the event with a 0.225-second advantage over Kiwi Motorsport’s points leader Bruno Ribeiro in practice, then was narrowly beaten to pole in qualifying.
Kiwi’s Jett Bowling went fastest by 0.055s, with Toney Driver Development’s Brady Golan only 0.121s off pole in third. Ribeiro missed qualifying due to rolling in practice, and main title rival Nicolas Ambiado (Kiwi) was fourth fastest.
Ribeiro was also absent from race one later in the day, and Sherlock made the most of it. He nailed the start to overtake Bowling, with Ambiado following him through.
A caution period restart gave Ambiado the chance to attack Sherlock, but he held on and Ambiado took the points lead in second. Bowling threw away third place with a late off, instead finishing 10th.
Ambiado set the fastest lap so started race two the next day from pole, and there was a mix of old and new tyres in use. Ribeiro had the freshest tyres as he returned to track.
Crosslink’s James Pollack stopped on track and triggered three formation laps occurring.
Sherlock had the lead by turn four once racing began, while Ribeiro jumped to seventh. He took sixth from Barrett Wolfe before the esses on lap four, and went side-by-side with Golan on lap nine before suddenly slowing. Although he completed the lap, his car stopped and a caution period was required.
Racing resumed on the final lap, and Sherlock won. Anthony Autiello threw away ninth place by ploughing into the barriers, with Kevin Janzen inheriting the place after spinning mid-race. Half-points were awarded.
The fastest lap earned Sherlock another pole for race three, and a great launch put him way clear of the field after just two corners.
Ribeiro started third and passed Ambiado on lap one, but could not match Sherlock and finished the 24-lap race 6.6s behind.
Bowling tried passing Connor Roberts for fifth on lap two but did not get the move done until lap three, with Roberts going off two corners later but not losing any further places.
Golan was in Bowling’s sights by lap five, but he only moved up to fourth on lap 10 after Amabiado fell behind both them and Roberts.
Ambiado’s downwards trajectory continued, being overtaken by James Lawley at the end of lap 12 and Callum Baxter on lap 14, then to Wolfe at turn two a lap later. Pollack cleared him on the final lap, at which point he was 53s behind the winner.
Ribeiro took the championship lead back from him, as Sherlock closed to within 11.5 points of the top.
Bowling began pressuring Golan again on lap 15 and tried a move, was very close on lap 19 then got past him into the final corner on the lap after. Golan later had a spin on lap 22 due to worn tyres, and finished sixth.
Results round-up
Race 1 (19 laps)
1 Titus Sherlock Crosslink Competition 30m24.828s
2 Nicolas Ambiado Kiwi Motorsport +1.265s
3 Connor Roberts Atlantic w/ Team Roberts +4.738s
4 Brady Golan Toney Driver Development +7.216s
5 James Lawley Atlantic Racing Team +8.748s
6 Barrett Wolfe Crosslink Competition +15.531s
7 Jake Pollack Crosslink Competition +17.712s
8 Callum Baxter Atlantic Racing Team +24.458s
9 Kevin Janzen Kiwi Motorsport +55.657s
10 Jett Bowling Kiwi Motorsport +1 lap
Pole: Bowling, 1m13.770s
Fastest lap: Ambiado, 1m14.507s
Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Sherlock 28m22.588s
2 Bowling +0.977s
3 Roberts +1.455s
4 Ambiado +2.446s
5 Golan +3.754s
6 Lawley +4.370s
7 Wolfe +5.136s
8 Baxter +6.286s
9 Janzen +7.019s
10 Anthony Autiello Momentum Motorsports +1 lap
FL: Sherlock, 1m14.559s
Race 3 (24 laps)
1 Sherlock 30m11.908s
2 Bruno Ribeiro Kiwi Motorsport +6.643s
3 Bowling +17.804s
4 Roberts +28.240s
5 Lawley +28.940s
6 Golan +31.560s
7 Baxter +31.834s
8 Wolfe +36.141s
9 Pollack +52.900s
10 Ambiado +53.223s
FL: Ribeiro, 1m14.629s
Championship standings
1 Ribeiro 227 2 Ambiado 223 3 Sherlock 215.5 4 Bowling 178 5 Golan 137 6 Roberts 99 7 Lawley 83.5 8 Nicolas Stati 82 9 Pollack 42 10 Wolfe 40.5