Whitney Strickland Wins in Masters Cup While Making Series Debut

AVONDALE, La. (April 11, 2026) – Brady Golan dominated Race 1 to win the 2026 Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) season opener at NOLA Motorsports Park on Saturday morning. For the second year in a row, Golan stood atop the podium at the 2.75-mile track just outside New Orleans.

Notes of Interest:

• Brady Golan won the opening race of the 2026 season. The victory marked Golan’s second win at NOLA Motorsports Park, and the third of his FR Americas career.
• Christian Bogle returned to FR Americas for the first time since 2021, and earned his first-career FR Americas podium in Race 1 at NOLA.
• Cooper Shipman moved up to FR Americas for the 2026 season after winning the 2025 Formula 4 United States Championship and the FR Americas scholarship that accompanies the prize. Shipman’s third-place result marked the second of his career, after also finishing in third during his series’ debut at Barber Motorsports Park in 2025.
• Toney Driver Development scored a 1-2 finish with Golan and Bogle on the podium.
• Reigning Team Champion, Kiwi Motorsport scored their first podium of 2026 with Shipman’s third-place result.

After an aborted standing start, the field raced toward a waving green flag to start the opening race of the 2026 season. Already lined up two-by-two, the third-place starter Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N-E-Where Transport / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) challenged pole sitter Evagoras Papasavvas (No. 71 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3). The Crosslink Motorsports teammates made contact, allowing Brady Golan (No. 40 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) to take the lead as the full course yellow was displayed. 

When the green flag waved to restart the race, Golan put on a clinic opening up a nearly 10-second lead before a late-race caution regrouped the field. With just three minutes left on the clock, the race restarted with enough time for a green-white-checkered finish. Having his gap erased didn’t stop the Toney Driver Development driver from once again pulling away from the field. As the checkered flag waved two laps later, he held a 5.699-second margin over the field, claiming his first win of the 2026 season. 

Hauanio had an up-and-down day starting the race third and then dropping back to 13th after making contact with his teammate. Despite that, he raced through the field to cross the line in second. 

Barrett Wolfe (No. 13 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3), another of Hauanio’s Crosslink Motorsports teammates, started the race sixth, but quickly climbed to second as Hauanio and Papasavvas had early contact. After spending most of the race in that position, Wolfe dropped to third on the white flag lap before seeing the checkered flag.  

After the race, the stewards reviewed video footage and determined that both Hauanio and Wolfe left the track in Turn 1 to overtake Cooper Shipman (No. 10 Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3). While the incidents occurred at different times—Wolfe’s during the initial start and Hauanio’s during the later restart—the result was the same, as both drivers were issued a five-second penalty. With the penalty, Hauanio dropped to seventh on the official results, while Wolfe was scored ninth. Christian Bogle (No. 7 Pelican Energy Consultants / Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) and Shipman were promoted to second and third, respectively. 

“We had a good car today,” said Golan after the race. “We did a lot of work in the off season, so I’m super happy to see that it’s turned out well. It’s always nice to have a massive lead, but we built up a decent one again after the restart, too. We’ve had by far the fastest and most reliable car of the year. So, I’m super happy with Toney Driver Development. They’ve done an incredible job.”

>> SEE MORE:  Race 1 Official Results

Displaying consistency throughout the race, Whitney Strickland (No. 21 TF Companies / Hillenburg Motorsports Ligier JS F3) claimed his first win in the FR Americas Masters Cup Contingency. He was joined on the podium by Kevin Janzen (No. 24 US Power Group/Data Center Solutions / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) and Anthony Autiello (No. 07 Hope For The Warriors / Momentum Motorsports Ligier JS F3), who finished second and third, respectively. 

“It’s been pretty fun,” said Strickland after climbing from the car. “I’m getting used to the Ligier JS F3 car—it’s my first weekend in it really, so I’m pretty happy to get a good result. I want to thank TF Companies for letting me come out here and do this. My management team took over the company, and as CEO, I got a little break to come do this race. I also have to thank Hillenburg Motorsports for the support, and my wife for being the team mom.”