Champion Beckham Jacir Continues Winning Streak in JFC Gen. 1 Class
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (October 17, 2026) – Jack Speth kept his championship hopes alive with a Race 1 win in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship (Ligier JFC) Gen. 2 class at Barber Motorsports Park. Completing a last-lap pass to overtake his championship rival, the Kiwi Motorsport driver moved within six points of the championship lead with one race remaining in the season.
Notes of Interest:
- The fight for the Ligier JFC Gen. 2 championship will go down to the final race of the season with Jack Speth narrowing the margin to just six points, as Edward Kennedy continues to lead the standings.
- Jack Speth scored his fourth win of the 2026 season with a last-lap pass at Barber Motorsports Park.
- Beckham Jacir won his 12th race of the season. Already confirmed as the 2026 Ligier JFC Gen. 1 class champion, Jacir has won every race since Round 9 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in June.
- Ava Hanssen tied her career-best finish with a second-place result at Barber. Hanssen is third in the championship standings ahead of tomorrow’s season finale.
- Finishing third, AJ Abdullah earned his fourth podium of the season.
- Both Team Championships will go down to the final race of the season, with MLT Motorsports currently leading Kiwi Motorsport by six points in the Gen. 2 class, and Champagne Racing leading Berg Racing by just seven points in the Gen. 1 class.
- Starting from the pole, Beckham Jacir (No. 7 Stonica / Bell / OMP / P1DOKS / Behind the Wheel / Champagne Racing Ligier JS F4) pulled into the point position as soon as the lights went out. Behind him, third-place starter Ava Hanssen (No. 26 One Powersports / Chiropractic Center of Elkhorn / NGK / Badger Mats Ligier JS F4) pulled wheel to wheel to challenge second-place starter, Lazaro Bainotti (No. 11 Fundacion Fangio Rus seguros Cordoba deportes / Speed Factory Ligier JS F4), but Bainotti held on to the position as they raced through Turn 1. While the front three settled into position, Gen. 2 drivers Edward Kennedy (No. 30 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS F422), Jack Speth (No. 07 Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F422) and Ben Ramirez (No. 32 U.S. Air Force / RASE Motorsports Ligier JS F422) worked through the field, with Kennedy passing Jacir to take the race lead before the completion of the fifth lap.
Kennedy, the Gen. 2 championship leader, had opened up more than a five-second gap before a full-course caution regrouped the field. With everyone stacked up nose to stern and less than three minutes left on the clock, the two-lap dash to the finish line teed up plenty of drama before the checkered flag waved. Racing toward the white flag, Bainotti went wide exiting Turn 17, dropping a wheel off the racing surface, allowing Hanssen, AJ Abdullah (No. 21 Freedom Detox / Grid State Digital / Berg Racing Ligier JS F4) and Alexander Savage (No. 33 KymaBoats.com / Triple Aim Medical Solutions / Nature Coast Health Care / G Tech Motorsports Ligier JS F4) to drive by. In the Gen. 2 class, Kennedy led as they took the white flag, but Speth wasn’t going down without a fight. Applying pressure through Turn 1, he hit his marks for the next few turns before sending it into Turn 6 to overtake the lead.
As the checkered flag waved, Speth led Kennedy in the Gen. 2 class, while Jacir led Hanssen and Abdullah in the Gen. 1 class.
“It was a very eventful race,” said Speth atop the podium. “I tried to put the pressure on in Turn 1, but it didn’t work, so I just focused on the exit of 2 and 3 and figured I had nothing to lose going into the hairpin. So, I decided that I’d either go out with a bang or just go home—go big or go home. I sent it into the hairpin and it stuck. [The championship] is all coming down to Sunday. I have to thank my mom—she finally made it out this weekend—my dad, and the entire Kiwi Motorsport team, especially Brock and Jackson.”
“Barber Motorsports Park is a great track,” said Jacir after climbing from the car. “It’s definitely one of my favorites. Compared to this morning’s qualifying, the weather was a little hotter. I knew tire management was always going to be a part of the game in this race. We had a good start and took over the pace. There was a full-course yellow, so I tried to keep my tires clean during that. We didn’t get the best restart after that, either, so I had to do some defending, but we got it, though. It was a good race.”
Ligier JFC will contest its final round of the 2026 season tomorrow at 9:10 a.m. CT. Live timing and scoring will be available on the Race Monitor app, with additional news and updates posted on the series’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
