AUSTIN, Texas (November 3, 2022) – Raoul Hyman opened the Mission Foods Austin SpeedTour weekend with a win in Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) to clinch the 2022 Driver’s Points Championship. The race did not come without adversity for the driver of the No. 27 Bethesda Holdings Limited / Solomon Capital Enterprises / Oaklands / Kinross Ligier JS F3, as he lost the lead on the first lap and had to fight from behind for nearly the entire 30 minutes before finally taking the win.
“I’m so grateful to be able to be here; winning the race was our target,” said Hyman in the winner’s circle. “We didn’t have new tires in that race, so we didn’t give ourselves the best opportunity to win. We were focused on the rest of the weekend, as well. To come away with the win and clinch the championship is the culmination of all the work and prayers for the last three years. I wasn’t racing two-and-a-half years ago. To be here now and have something in place for next year is such a blessing. Dylan did an amazing job. He positioned the car really well and was fast in the places he needed to be. Dylan’s extremely clean and it was a pleasure to race against him.”
Dylan Tavella (No. 14 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) put up a solid fight, overtaking Hyman in Turn 12 on the opening lap and continuing to lead for the first 12 laps. It wasn’t until lap 13 when Hyman was finally able to catch Tavella in Turn 12 and pull side-by-side. After racing that way around the circuit for an entire lap, Hyman finally completed the pass as they came back through Turn 12 on their way to the white flag. Once again side-by-side exiting Turn 20, Tavella tried to put the power down to get traction out of the corner, but oversteered to spin just before the flag. With momentum on his side, Tavella rolled across the finish line, backwards, in the second position.
Nick Persing (No. 29 OPI Commercial Builders Ligier JS F3) was initially scored third, but a stewards decision for causing a collision resulted in a five-second penalty, which relegated him to sixth on the official results. Instead, Ryan Yardley (No. 78 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) officially finished third to secure his sixth podium of the year.
A full run-down of the official results from Race 1 are available, here.
