AVONDALE, La. (March 29, 2025) – Brady Golan went from spinning to winning in Formula Regional Americas Championship’s (FR Americas) Race 2 at NOLA Motorsports Park on Saturday afternoon. The victory marked the first-career win for both Golan (No. 80 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) and his Toney Driver Development team, who made their series debut during the 2024 season finale at Circuit of The Americas.
Notes of Interest:
- Brady Golan earned his first-career FR Americas victory in Race 2 at NOLA Motorsports Park on Saturday afternoon. It was also the first win for his Toney Driver Development team.
- For the second time today, Chilean Nicolas Ambiado finished in the runner-up position.
- Bruno Ribeiro earned his second-career podium and the first podium of his 2025 season.
Race 2 was wild from the start, with polesitter Nicolas Ambiado (No. 55 Velox USA Ligier JS F3) pulling off in Turn 1 during the formation laps. With some assistance to get moving again, the Chilean made his way down pit lane to start the race from there, while the rest of the field drove down the starting grid. Titus Sherlock (No. 31 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) was out front, albeit starting from the second position, with Barrett Wolfe (No. 13 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3), Alex Benavitz (No. 5 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3), Lincoln Day (No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) and Brady Golan (No. 80 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) lining up behind him.
As the 17-car field rolled off the starting grid, Ambiado brought up the rear from pit lane. Meanwhile, Sherlock settled in out front and almost immediately began opening a gap over second-place Wolfe. Behind them, Benavitz and Golan were fighting for third when a mistake by Golan between Turns 5 and 6 spun him around. Continuing in the right direction and losing just a few positions in the incident, Golan was seventh as he reached full speed.
With the front two spread out, the best racing was that for the third position. Benavitz had both Bruno Ribeiro (No. 01 Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) and Daniel Quimby (No. 42 Atlantic Racing Team Ligier JS F3) hot on his tracks. Both drivers eventually made their way around Benavitz, while Golan continued his climb behind them. As the race neared its halfway point, Ribeiro was in attack mode looking to overtake second-place Wolfe. The two crossed the start/finish line wheel to wheel and began racing two wide. The battle allowed both Quimby and Golan to pull to their gearboxes, and it soon became a four-way battle for second. Sherlock was more than 6.5 seconds ahead before he entered pit lane with smoke coming from his car. With the Race 1 winner safely pulling to a stop and exiting the vehicle, the on-track action continued as Golan snuck around Wolfe to overtake the lead just before the safety car deployed with crews working to retrieve Sherlock’s car.
The race resumed with just under five minutes left on the clock, giving drivers another chance at improving their positions. Ambiado stayed tight on Golan’s gearbox but was unable to complete the pass as Golan defended his lead. The two were side by side on the white flag lap, but a full-course yellow froze the running order, leaving the field to take both the yellow and checkered flags.
As that happened, Golan crossed the line first, followed by Ambiado and Ribeiro.
READ MORE: Race 2 Official Results
“That was amazing,” said Golan after climbing from the car. “We had a spin on—what was it? Lap two or three? To come back and win it is incredible. I have to thank all the guys at Toney Driver Development and Attire for making this dream come true.”
FR Americas will contest their final race of the NOLA SpeedTour tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT. The race will air live on SPEED SPORT 1, and also be available to stream live on SpeedTour.TV. With SPEED SPORT 1 available on Amazon Prime Video, Roku, Pluto TV, Sling, STIRR and more, details for how to tune in are available, here. Additional news and updates throughout the off-season will be shared on the series’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
