Cole Kleck kicked off his 2024 campaign in Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) competition with a victory at NOLA Motorsports Park. Kleck (No. 11 DD Autosport / International Mechanical Ligier JS F3) made a charge through the field after lining up fifth on the grid to take his first-career victory in the season-opening race.
Patrick Woods-Toth (No. 27 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) started the race from the point position, but Kleck had a great jump off the starting block, pulling to the inside as they entered Turn 1 and quickly moving into the third position. By Turn 2, he was battling side by side with second-place starter Nicolas Ambiado (No. 55 TLink / Allegro Ligier JS F3), and by Turn 4, he overtook the second position. Kleck entered Turn 6 door to door with then-leader Woods-Toth, but by the exit of the corner, he completed the pass.
A pair of full-course cautions left Kleck to defend his position during restarts, but with a fast car, he easily cruised to victory. Woods-Toth crossed the line second, with Ambiado following in third. Titus Sherlock (No. 31 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) finished fourth in his career-first FR Americas race, while Ryan Shehan (No. 66 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3), a two-time winner at NOLA Motorsports Park, crossed the line in fifth.
“We got a little unlucky with the red flag in qualifying and trying to get clean laps in, but my dad and I do practice starts whenever we have time,” said Kleck. “So, we shot off the line well, came out third in Turn 1, and then battled for second exiting the turn. We got Patrick [Woods-Toth] in Turn 6 [to take the lead].”
FR Americas kicks off the action at NOLA Motorsports Park tomorrow with Race 2 at 8 a.m. CT. Race 3 will follow later in the day, with lights out scheduled for 2 p.m. CT. All feature races will be available to stream on the SpeedTourTV YouTube page.
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