Callum Hedge went from a spin to a win in a thrilling opening race of the weekend for Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR). The New Zealander is in a heated battle for the championship title with Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport teammate Ryan Shehan, and the two kept the drama set to “high” from start to finish in race one of the Andy Scriven Memorial at the VIR SpeedTour weekend.
Drama on the initial start happened between Hayden Bowlsbey (No. 22 Save 22 Ligier JS F3) and Oliver Westling (No. 1 JENSEN Ligier JS F3). Bowlsbey rolled off the grid in third with Westling a row behind him in sixth, but by the time they made it to Turn 1, the two were side by side. Westling looked to pull ahead of Bowlsbey, but misjudged his clearance and the two made contact with their Hankook tires. Still in a heated battle, Bowlsbey stayed immediately on Westling’s gearbox until the two once again made contact in Turn 4 and Westling got turned around.
Shehan stayed tight on Hedge’s gearbox, patiently waiting for an opportunity to take the lead. Filling Hedge’s mirrors, the gap between the top two remained less than half a second apart for the first 12 minutes of the race. Shehan finally got his shot at the point position as Hedge locked up entering Oak Tree and spun through the grass. The mistake took Shehan from 0.2s behind the leader to nearly a 7s advantage. However, just as quickly as Shehan gained his advantage, it was all erased when a full-course caution slowed the field.
With just over 12 minutes left on the clock, Shehan led the field to green as the race resumed. Despite pressure from Hedge, Shehan initially pulled ahead in his No. 66 machine, but an off in Oak Tree dropped him to third in the running order, as Hedge inherited the lead. Left to fight his way back through the field, Shehan pulled tight on Bowlsbey’s gearbox and was able to overtake the position with a pass on the backstretch with just under seven minutes left on the clock.
Another full-course caution with just five minutes to go meant a one-lap shootout to the finish. Hedge held off the competition through one final restart to lead the field to the checkered flag. As they crossed the line, Hedge led Shehan, followed by Bowlsbey in third and Becklin in fourth.
A post-race Stewards Decision stemming from the lap-one incident between Bowlsbey and Westling led to a 30s penalty, which dropped Bowlsbey from third to eighth in the official results.
“It’s probably safe to say that I didn’t deserve to win today,” Hedge explained on the podium. “I haven’t made too many mistakes this year. I was going to go for fastest lap that lap, but I went a couple meters too deep, got halfway through the corner and realized I was facing backwards.”
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Hedge earned his 11th FR Americas victory at VIR on Saturday afternoon. Holding the point position from lights to checkers, the New Zealander extended his points lead, allowing him to possibly clinch the 2023 Championship title in Sunday’s race.
Oliver Westling (No. 1 JENSEN Ligier JS F3) had a great jump from his fifth-place starting position to move into third by the time the field reached the first corner. Third-place starter Cooper Becklin (No. 19 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) remained close behind, waiting for an opportunity to move back into the final podium position. With 10 minutes remaining on the clock, Becklin was able to make his way back around Westling and cruised on to the checkered flag.
After 30-minutes of green flag racing, Hedge led Shehan and Becklin to the checkered flag.
“This afternoon we made a few changes; had a few issues to fix in between the races,” explained Hedge. “We had a crack in the valve housing that we had to fix up during the break. The car felt really good from lap one. I finally made a good start—which was nice—and I never really looked back. I just want to say a big thank you to the Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport for the good car, and the people that make it happen for me—Giltrap Group, Tony Quinn Foundation and Tasman Motorsports Group.”
FR Americas will contest one more round this weekend with lights out for race three scheduled at 11:50 a.m. ET Sunday. It will stream live on the SpeedTour TV YouTube Channel. Fans can follow @FRAmericas on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates, and use the Race Monitor app for live timing and scoring.