Mission Accomplished for Dominant F3 Americas Squad at COTA
Leading open wheel development team Abel Motorsports of Louisville, Kentucky, wrapped up its F3 Americas Championship season in style this past weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, sweeping both F3 race wins and clinching the inaugural F3 Americas Team Championship. Driver Kyle Kirkwood won his 14th and 15th F3 Americas races in 17 series events at COTA, closing his Championship year with an exclamation point. Kirkwood’s teammate, teenager Jacob Abel of Louisville, put together a strong final weekend as well, finishing sixth and fourth in the two events.
“We had a great weekend,” team principal Bill Abel noted. “We wanted to finish what we started, finish strong, and we did. Kyle capped off a remarkable year with us, winning his third major championship within a year… winning both COTA races. It was amazing.”
While Kirkwood had already locked up the Driver’s Championship in F3 Americas, to go along with his 2017 F4 U.S. Championship and his 2018 USF2000 title, his two F3 Americas wins at COTA gave him an incredible 27 wins in 31 starts across USF2000 and F3Americas.
That’s considered a modern-era record of dominance in open-wheel racing that may never be duplicated.
And Jacob Abel continued to progress at COTA, on one of the biggest stages in racing.
“Jacob continued to learn, working with his driving coach Shelby Blackstock, and our whole team. He just keeps getting better. Sometimes it’s easy for us to forget this is only his second season racing cars, and he still has a lot to learn. But he’s getting better all the time and I couldn’t be more pleased. And watching Jacob work with Kyle, who’s just an incredible talent, you can see that’s really been a positive for both of them.”
Kirkwood won the F3 Americas Championship by 129 points; Abel Motorsports took the Team Championship by 50 points, on the strength of Kirkwood’s title and Jacob Abel’s fourth-place finish in the Championship.
Now, with its first Championships tucked away, the focus for Abel Motorsports turns to 2019. Bill Abel commented, “We’re not quite ready to announce our plans as yet, but suffice it to say we’re going forward full bore, planning to challenge for more wins and championships. We want to continue to work with young drivers who are hungry for success, and we want to keep giving Jacob Abel and other young racers who will drive for us the best possible platform to learn and grow behind the wheel as well as off-track.”
Abel Motorsports has rides available in the F4 U.S. Championship and the F3 Americas Championship, both powered by Honda. More opportunities are pending in the days ahead.
