Abel Motorsports of Louisville, Kentucky, one of the country’s top open-wheel development race teams, has already put together a strong 2018 resume’. Abel secured the first-ever F3 Americas Championship title for young ace Kyle Kirkwood at NOLA Motorsports Park last weekend. This weekend, Abel will fire up their two-car F3 Americas team before a huge F1 crowd at Circuit of the Americas, outside Austin, Texas, chasing the first F3 Americas Team Championship. Abel currently leads the team standings by 36 points heading into the COTA doubleheader.
“It’s a different kind of weekend for us,” commented team principal Bill Abel. “We’ll run two races instead of the normal three, and they’re 10 lap sprints, instead of the normal 35-minute timed events. But we get to showcase our team in front of a couple hundred thousand fans from around the world, and our guys get to perform in front of some of the most influential people in racing. It’s a huge deal for us.”
Abel continued, “Our drivers, Kyle (Kirkwood) and Jacob (Abel) will have to concentrate on good starts and be quick and smooth out of the gate. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we can claim the Team Championship, to go along with Kyle’s Driver’s Championship.”
Kirkwood, the teenager from Jupiter, Florida, will wrap up another season of dominance at COTA. Last weekend at NOLA Motorsports Park, Kirkwood won two of the three F3 Americas races, picking up his 12th and 13th victories in 15 series starts this year. The wins gave Kirkwood the F3 Americas Championship, adding to his F4 US Championship in 2017 and his USF2000 Championship earlier this year. Overall in 2018, Kirkwood has scored an unprecedented 25 wins in 29 starts across USF2000 and F3 Americas.
His teammate, 17-year-old Jacob Abel of Louisville, is looking for his fifth and sixth podium finishes in his inaugural F3Americas campaign. “(COTA) is definitely our best event of the year. I have experience there, having run the F4 US Championship rounds there a year ago. It’s an awesome experience. It’ll be tough competition, but podiums are a realistic expectation.”
The inaugural F3 Americas Championship Powered by Honda concludes with one race each day this Saturday and Sunday at Circuit
