Whitney Strickland Wins in Masters Cup
MILLVILLE, N.J. (August 2, 2026) – Luke Powers earned his first Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) win in Race 1 at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Saturday afternoon.
Notes of Interest:
- A first-time winner in FR Americas, Luke Powers earned his first victory in a single-seater racecar with the Race 1 win at NJMP. A successful karter from New Castle Motorsports Park, Powers first joined the Racing America Formula Ladder through a scholarship for the Radford Racing School F4 U.S. Karts to Cars School. After his first laps in a single-seater car at the school, Powers engaged in an extensive testing program before joining F4 U.S. Championship the following season. This year, he’s competing as a rookie in FR Americas with Toney Driver Development.
- Alejandro (“Alex”) Bobadilla scored his first FR Americas podium with a second-place result. Bobadilla has been racking up the victories in the F4 NACAM Championship, but the Race 1 podium marked his first at the Formula Regional level.
- Christian Bogle recorded his fourth podium of 2026 with a third-place result.
- Evagoras Papasavvas (No. 71 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) entered the weekend as the championship points leader, but an early mechanical issue led to his retirement from the event and left him unclassified in the final results.
The drama was in overdrive from the second the lights were activated at NJMP, as an issue for Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N-E-Where Transport / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) triggered an aborted start. As a result, the field resumed their positions behind the safety car for one last formation lap before attempting a two-by-two rolling start. Second-place starter Brady Golan (No. 40 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) got the jump on polesitter Evagoras Papasavvas (No. 71 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) to clear the field before they even reached the start/finish line.
Able to get his car fired after the issue on the starting grid, Hauanio maintained his position to line up fifth in the rolling start. Showing impressive speed during the opening laps, he challenged Golan for the lead, but wasn’t able to get the pass completed. Then, a one-lap shootout to finish the race left Hauanio facing pressure of his own. Luke Powers (No. 5 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) took advantage of an early restart to climb to third from his sixth-place starting position and maintained the position for the majority of the race. The one-lap dash to the checkered flag brought Powers to Hauanio’s gearbox and allowed him to make the pass driving around the outside in Turn 1 on the restart.
Hauanio’s last-lap pressure continued as Cooper Shipman (No. 10 Driven Dynamix / Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) looked for a way around. The two raced side by side for most of the lap, but the aggressive battle and contact between the two in Turn 10 opened the door just long enough for Alejandro Bobadilla (No. 8 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) to sneak by and claim the third position.
Following the race, the Stewards reviewed a series of reports, resulting in impactful decisions:
- The Stewards received a protest from Crosslink Motorsports on behalf of Papasavvas stating that Golan jumped the initial two-by-two rolling start. Reviewing the footage, they found that Golan accelerated before the No. 71 car accelerated, and before they reached the first start zone sign. As a result, Golan was issued a five-second time penalty, which dropped him to fourth in the final results.
- Hauanio was issued a 10-second time penalty after the Stewards ruled that he was predominately responsible for a collision with Shipman during the final lap of the race. As a result, he dropped to 12th in the official running order.
As a result of the penalties, Powers was promoted to the race win, while Bobadilla rose to second and Christian Bogle (No. 7 Pelican Energy Consultants / Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) was scored third.
Whitney Strickland (No. 21 TF Companies / Hillenburg Motorsports Ligier JS F3) drove a clean race to extend his points lead in the Masters Cup Championship with his eighth win of the season. Behind him, Anthony Autiello (No. 07 Hope For The Warriors / Momentum Motorsports Ligier JS F3) finished second, while Kevin Janzen (No. 24 US Power Group / Data Center Solutions / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) rounded out the podium.
FR Americas will contest a doubleheader today with races at 9:30 a.m. and 1:40 p.m. ET, respectively. 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.
