Abel Brings Two-car Squad to Georgia Road Course; Bids For Six More Podium Finishes
Championship-leading F3 Americas team Abel Motorsports of Louisville, Kentucky, is looking to add to its win total this weekend at Road Atlanta, one of the country’s iconic motorsports venues. The Road Atlanta event marks the fourth competition weekend for the new F3 Americas Championship powered by Honda. Thus far, Abel Motorsports has dominated the F3 Americas season, winning eight of the first nine Series races.
The Road Atlanta event marks the second of two back-to-back F3 Americas weekends. Last week at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Abel Motorsports added a second F3Americas entry for young F4 U.S. Championship powered by Honda graduate Jacob Abel. With only one day of testing in the new, heavier, much more powerful F3Americas Ligier/Honda, Abel got up to speed quickly and scored three straight podium finishes. The team expects more success at the Braselton, GA road course this week, a track Abel Motorsports is familiar with.
“It is a short week for us, a quick turnaround” commented team principal Bill Abel, “but it’s our second visit there (to Road Atlanta) this year. Jacob had one of his better F4 weekends there back in the spring so we’re looking to carry forward that same momentum. We know the competition will be tougher; there’ll be a few new entries in the paddock, but we have our eyes on another sweep!”
Abel Motorsports and driver Kyle Kirkwood, the reigning F4 US Championship title holder, won the year’s first 8 races in the new F3 Americas Championship powered by Honda. He’d won 19 straight across two series in 2018. Kirkwood’s win streak was stopped by a rare error in the New Jersey finale last Sunday, but he and the Abel team have built solid points leads thus far and plan to start a new streak this weekend. “There’s always ways to make things better, for me, our car, and the team” noted Kirkwood. “No matter how far we’re ahead we’ll never relax"
J. Abel will strap in to his #51 Abel Motorsports Ligier/Honda at Road Atlanta for just his second F3 Americas race weekend. In May, competing then in the F4 U.S. Championship powered by Honda, young Abel had three top-12 finishes topped by an eighth place run in the Sunday finale.
Those runs came against fields of well over 30 cars in each race. Now, with one weekend of F3 Americas competition under his belt and the advantage of working with the Series’ top team, J. Abel plans on extending his streak of F3 podium finishes to six. “We’ve had some quality races at Road Atlanta. We’re optimistic about our chances. These cars are tough to drive and I have a lot to learn, but our team is rock-solid and I expect great results with both our cars this coming weekend.”
While Kyle Kirkwood leads the F3 Americas championship by a wide margin at the halfway point of this inaugural season, Abel Motorsports has also been dominant. The team has made a total of 12 F3 Americas starts thus far in 2018, and has the eight wins by Kirkwood and 12 top-three finishes overall, giving them the points lead in the F3 Americas team competition. They’re the heavy favorites to add to their win total as the Series heads to Georgia.
Abel Motorsports is competing in multiple open-wheel developmental championships in 2018, the team’s second year of professional racing operations. Abel Motorsports has just debuted its official team website,www.abelmotorsports.com, and is accepting inquiries about driving opportunities in several different categories of cars including F3 and F4.
