Yahoo Autos Woods-Toth secures first FR Americas race win at IMS
Marking the inaugural race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas), points-leader Patrick Woods-Toth (No. 27 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) emerged victorious on Saturday afternoon. Overcoming tough competition from his championship rivals, Woods-Toth paced the field from lights to checkered in an all-green race.
Woods-Toth entered the weekend tied in points with Ryan Shehan (No. 66 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3), and the two drivers have been neck and neck ever since. With each leading one of the test sessions, Shehan paced practice, while Woods-Toth took qualifying. As Woods-Toth led the field down the grid on Saturday afternoon, Shehan lined up to his outside in second.
When the lights went out, Shehan got the jump to lead the field into Turn 1. Titus Sherlock (No. 31 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3), who started third, swept around the outside to try to challenge Woods-Toth for second, but was unable to complete the pass. With Woods-Toth gaining speed as they raced down the Hulman Straight, he had the preferred inside line as they entered Turn 7 to overtake Shehan and once again lead the field. From there, the Canadian continued to hit his marks and started to open a gap.
Behind him, the action continued to heat up. Corner workers spotted a loose rear wing on Sherlock’s machine, forcing the driver to surrender the third position as he came down pit lane. Fifth-place starter Theodor Jensen (No. 1 JENSEN Global Advisors Ligier JS F3) was on the move, overtaking fourth-place starter Nicolas Ambiado (No. 55 TLink / Allegro Ligier JS F3), and continuing to climb the leaderboard with Sherlock’s misfortune.
As the race passed its halfway point, sixth-place starter Jett Bowling (No. 02 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) looked to make something happen. Racing nose to tail with Jensen and Ambiado, Bowling overtook fourth as Ambiado wiggled off the exit of Turn 10 with just over seven minutes left on the clock. Focused forward, Bowling was on Jensen’s gearbox the final three laps of the race, waiting for the right opportunity to make his move. With Jensen wide off the final turn coming to the white flag, the two were side by side as they passed under the starter’s stand. Regrouping himself, the Danish driver pulled back ahead as they entered Turn 1 and lapped traffic intensified their battle.
As they crossed the line, Woods-Toth took his third win of the season, with Shehan following in second. Jensen claimed the third and final podium position in his first series start.
“We had to manage the tires and the engine today,” said Woods-Toth atop the podium. “It’s really hot, so everything was just fading away as you drive. Ryan [Shehan] gave me a hard battle the whole time, keeping me on my toes, and I couldn’t relax for the whole 35 minutes. I was sweating a lot, but luckily, we came in with the win and a good day. I’d like to thank the whole team at Crosslink Kiwi. We’ve had a great car all season. They’ve been working really hard, staying late and everything, so thank you to them. Of course, thank you to my sponsors—Orlando, FSMQ, Ron Fellows—and all my family and friends back home.
FR Americas competes in their final two races of the weekend Sunday. The lights go out for race two at 10:00 a.m. ET, followed by race three at 2:30 p.m. ET.
This weekend’s races will be live streamed at YouTube.com/SpeedTourTV, with live timing and scoring available on the Race Monitor app. Additional news and updates from the weekend will be posted on the series’ social channels: Facebook, Instagram, and X.
