Golan scores FR Americas Race 1 win at IMS

Brady Golan won Race 1 for Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon. Leading from lights to checkers in an all-green race, the Toney Development Driver was the first to cross the bricks, claiming his third victory of the 2026 season. 

Golan (No. 40 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) led the field to the standing start and darted to the lead as the lights went out. To his outside, Cooper Shipman (No. 10 Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) came under immediate pressure from fourth-place starter Christian Bogle (No. 7 Pelican Energy Consultants / Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3), who looked for a way by as they raced through Turn 1. The front five settled into line with Golan leading Shipman, Bogle, Luke Powers (No. 5 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) and Barrett Wolfe (No. 13 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) as they crossed the bricks to complete the first lap. Behind them, Evagoras Papasavvas (No. 71 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) had already reached the sixth position after lining up 15th on the grid. 

Papasavvas continued his dash through the field, picking off the competition one by one. He reached third before the clock passed halfway, but still had a gap to close before he could reach the gearbox of Shipman. Reeling him in lap by lap, Papasavvas was within striking distance with just four minutes left on the clock. Diving to the inside of Turn 1, Papasavvas completed the pass to overtake second. Quickly closing in on the checkered flag, Golan remained more than two seconds ahead and just outside of Papasavvas’ reach. 

When the clock ran out, Golan led the field across the Yard of Bricks, while Papasavvas followed in second and Shipman in third. 

“It was a good drive,” said Golan. “I tried to check out on the start, and did a pretty good job of it. Then, it was just managing tires the whole way through. I’m really proud of these [Toney Driver Development] guys — I’m happy to be able to bring a hometown win for them. The No. 40 car has been amazing all year, so I have to thank them for that. Also thanks to everybody at Marina and Saber Management group.”

Following the race, the stewards reviewed contact between Bogle and Kevin Janzen (No. 24 US Power Group/Data Center Solutions / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3), ruling that Bogle made nose-to-tail contact and caused Janzen to spin. Bogle and his Toney Driver Development team appealed the decision, and as such, the results for Round 9 will remain provisional until the appeal is heard by the National Court of Appeals. 

Whitney Strickland (No. 21 TF Companies / Hillenburg Motorsports Ligier JS F3) won the Masters Cup Class, crossing the bricks to claim his first FR Americas win at the Brickyard and seventh win of the season. His race wasn’t without issue though, as the Hillenburg Motorsports driver stalled on the start and had to fight back through the pack to ultimately capture the class win.

“That was a pretty eventful race, actually,” said Strickland atop the podium. “This is my first series where I’ve done standing starts—I’ve been racing for decades, but these standing starts are killing me. I stalled out and then had to catch up to everybody. Thankfully I was able to get it done. I’m looking forward to tomorrow—I’m an early morning kind of guy. You know, us 50 year olds, we like to wake up early, so this is going to be good tomorrow.”

FR Americas will contest a doubleheader tomorrow with the lights going out at 8 a.m. and 12:10 p.m., respectively, for Races 2 and 3. The races will be streamed on YouTube.com/@RacingAmericaTV, with timing and scoring available on the Race Monitor app. Additional news and updates will be posted on the series’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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