MILLVILLE, N.J. (July 30, 2022) – Dylan Tavella scored his second win of the 2022 Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) season on Saturday afternoon at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). With a thrilling last-lap pass at his home track, Tavella overtook Raoul Hyman in Turn 1 to race to the win.
“It was hard the whole time sitting behind with all the dirty air, tire degrading and heat on the tires,” said Tavella from the podium. “I was trying to keep the car cool at the same time, so it was really hard to stay behind him. The whole time I’m trying to think about ‘where do I get him?’ He was faster than me in some bits—honestly, he was fast at all the right spots. I was able to get a good run into the start/finish and I just threw it in and hoped that it worked. I really didn’t know it was the last lap, and then I couldn’t see the checkered since I was in the grass. But I kept my foot in it. I’m happy it all worked out.”
After securing the pole during this morning’s qualifying session, Hyman paced the field in his No. 27 Bethesda Holdings Limited / Solomon Capital Enterprises / Oaklands / Kinross Ligier JS F3, leading 24 laps and holding on through two restarts. Meanwhile, Tavella kept a close pace on Hyman, never more than six-tenths behind the leader. Coming to the start/finish line to take the white flag, Tavella got a run with his Hankook Tires and moved to the inside of Hyman to drive it in deep in Turn 1. With a hairy move but a successful pass, Tavella pulled out front to take the race lead in his No. 14 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3. One last bit of excitement before the flag happened when Tavella went wide coming off the last turn and got four tires off the course. Kicking up dirt behind him, Tavella led Hyman and Ryan Yardley (No. 78 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) to the podium.
A full run-down of the provisional results from Race 2 are available, here.
FR Americas will wrap up their New Jersey SpeedTour weekend with Race 3 tomorrow at 11:20 a.m. ET. Follow @FRAmericas on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates, or use Race Monitor to follow live timing and scoring.
Photos by Gavin Baker Photography.
