Jason Alder, driver of the No. 77 Drive for Diabetes Awareness / HAKUN / TJ Speed Motorsports Ligier JS F3, earned his first Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) win of the 2022 race season on Sunday at Road America. The Cooksville, Md., native put himself in the catbird seat to take over the lead with just two laps remaining in the race.

“It was definitely a tricky race for sure,” said Alder from the podium. “It was very up and down. Sometimes it was looking really good, sometimes maybe not so much. We had a little bit of contact in Turn 1 on that restart that made us lose a position or two. Fortunately, we were able to come back up to the front, and when the opportunity presented itself, we were there to take advantage of that. So, I’m really happy that we were able to bring a one-two home for the team, and I’m really looking forward to trying to get a one-two-three with Nick [Persing] on here, as well. All in all, just grateful to win.”

Initially, it looked like the race would be a carbon copy of Race 1 with a dominant start by Raoul Hyman (No. 27 Bethesda Holdings Limited / Solomon Capital Enterprises / Oaklands / Kinross Ligier JS F3) from the pole position, who opened a sizable lead during the early laps. However, coming to two laps to go, Hyman bumped the wheels on entry to spin in Turn 14. Fortunately, given the lead he had built up prior to the spin, Hyman was able to regroup and rejoin the race in the second position.

Early in the race, there was an intense battle for second place with Alder battling his TJ Speed Motorsports teammate Nick Persing (No. 29 OPI Commercial Builders Ligier JS F3), Dylan Tavella (No. 14 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) and Ryan Yardley (No. 78 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3). However, as Persing spun off course and Yardley suffered a mechanical issue, it was Tavella who emerged to finish third.

Full results are available here: FR Americas Race 2 Official Results – Road America

TJ Speed Motorsports sweeps the podium in Race 3

TJ Speed Motorsports claimed all three podium positions for the first time this Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda season to extend its lead in the team championship standings.

Continuing his show of dominance from pole position, Raoul Hyman, driver of the No. 27 Bethesda Holdings Limited / Solomon Capital Enterprises / Oaklands / Kinross Ligier JS F3, pulled away from the rest of the grid immediately from lights out.

“I’m really happy, and to have all the guys up here, I mean everyone was working really hard on Nick [Persing’s] car right until we had to go,” Hyman said as he took his place at the top of the podium. “We finally put a smile on Tim’s [Neff, team owner] face.  I’m really happy with that. I’d like to thank the boys, they’ve done a great job. Honestly, they have really put together three amazing packages.”

Dylan Tavella (No. 14 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) fought and maintained the second position until a mistake in lap six ran him wide, opening the door for Jason Alder, (No. 77 Drive for Diabetes Awareness / HAKUN / TJ Speed Motorsports Ligier JS F3) to move up to second. Right behind, in third, Nick Persing (No. 29 of the OPI Commercial Builders Ligier JS F3) fought his way through the pack from the seventh position into the final podium spot, while setting multiple fastest laps on his Hankook tires.

The battle for third continued throughout the race, as Tavella recovered to apply pressure to Persing. As the race clock ticked down, Tavella was starting to close the gap between himself and Persing. Going into the final lap, the gap between Persing in third and Tavella in forth was down to half a second. Ultimately, Persing defended his position against Tavella and claimed the final podium position to complete the TJ Speed Motorsports sweep.

View the full field official race results, here: FR Americas Official Results – Race 3 at Road America

FR Americas’ next event will be the Mid-Ohio SpeedTour, where they will complete Rounds 7-9 at the Lexington, Ohio circuit, June 23-26. Tickets for the Mid-Ohio SpeedTour are available now at SpeedTour.net. The event will also be available for live stream at YouTube.com/SpeedTourTV.