Nicolas Ambiado achieved his first win in the Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) in the second race at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). The 16-year-old driver from Chile finished in second place in the previous two rounds but finally broke through to secure a commanding victory with a 10-second margin on Sunday morning.
Ambiado had the perfect setup for the morning track conditions and skillfully maintained his lead, quickly creating a gap between himself and the rest of the field. Within the first lap, he was already a full second ahead, and within the first 10 minutes, he had extended his lead to nearly 6 seconds. By the time the checkered flag waved, Ambiado had built a lead of over 10 seconds. Behind him, Titus Sherlock faced pressure from Patrick Woods-Toth, with less than 0.5 seconds separating them in the closing laps. However, Sherlock managed to hold off his opponent and finished in the same order they ran for most of the race: Ambiado, Sherlock, Woods-Toth.
“I’m extremely pleased,” said Ambiado on the podium. “I had an excellent setup today, thanks to my team, my father, Velox USA. I had a comfortable lead over second place and was able to secure the victory. I want to express my gratitude to my sponsors, LIQUI MOLY, as well as SpeedTour, FR Americas, and SVRA.”
Patrick Woods-Toth emerges victorious in an exciting third race at NJMP. In a thrilling battle with Nicolas Ambiado for the majority of the race, Woods-Toth managed to fend off Ambiado’s attempts to overtake him and ultimately won the final race of the Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) during the New Jersey Lottery SpeedTour weekend.
Woods-Toth maintained his lead after an early yellow flag caused by an incident in Turn 1 on the first lap. He had a clean restart when the green flag waved, with Ambiado right behind him. The two frontrunners were separated by mere tenths of a second for the first half of the race. Ambiado had a few opportunities to try and pass Woods-Toth on the frontstretch as they approached Turn 1, but Woods-Toth defended his position and successfully held off Ambiado’s challenges.
When the race ended, Woods-Toth crossed the finish line in first place, followed by Ambiado in second and Jett Bowling in third. Bowling started the race in fifth position but took advantage of the Turn 1 incident on the opening lap to secure his fourth podium finish of the season.
“It feels great to be back,” said Woods-Toth from the podium. “We put in a lot of effort in the last two races and had some bad luck, but we managed to put it all together. Finally, we had a strong race today. Nicolas was incredibly fast throughout the weekend. When he was in the lead, we couldn’t even see him anymore. This race was a tough one, and I had to use all my karting defense skills, but it worked out well for us in the end. I want to thank the team at Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport, Orlando, FSMQ, Ron Fellows, my family, my friends, and everyone who supports me.”
The FR Americas championship will head to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for its second-to-last round of the 2024 season, taking place from August 29th to September 1st. Live timing and scoring can be accessed through the Race Monitor app, and for additional news and updates about F4 U.S., please visit the series’ Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages.
