STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — Kekai Hauanio scored his first-career victory in Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) during Saturday’s Race 1 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
In a tight race with the top three running nose to tail nearly the entire 30 minutes, Hauanio was able to hold off his Crosslink Motorsports teammate to claim his first win in the season’s seventh round.
With his Race 1 victory, Kekai Hauanio earned his first-career win in FR Americas. The victory comes at the same track where Hauanio won two Ligier Junior Formula Championship races in 2024.
Evagoras Papasavvas finished second in front of his home crowd. It was his fourth podium of the season, as the Crosslink Motorsports driver currently leads the championship point standings.
Finishing third, Brady Golan captured his third podium of 2026.
In the Masters Cup class, Whitney Strickland earned his fifth win of the season.
Polesitter Brady Golan (No. 40 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) led the field down the starting grid, but on the first lap it was Hauanio (No. 29 N-E-Where Transport / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) who had the pace to climb from his third-place starting position all the way to the race lead. Evagoras Papasavvas (No. 71 Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) also made his way around Golan during the opening lap, and from there the three ran nose to tail the entire race with less than a second separating them.
A mid-race safety car gave Papasavvas and Golan one last shot at Hauanio, but with a perfect launch, Hauanio crossed the line to restart the race with nearly a half-second lead. Behind him, Golan briefly pulled up to challenge Papasavvas, but the Cypriot American was able to hold him off all the way to the checkered flag.
As they crossed the line it was Hauanio, followed by Papasavvas and Golan, with Cooper Shipman (No. 10 Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) and Christian Bogle (No. 7 Pelican Energy Consultants / Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) rounding out the top five.
“I’ve been waiting for this one all season,” said Hauanio after climbing from the car. “It feels really good to do it here at Mid-Ohio; this has always been my favorite track. I’ve had a lot of success here over the years and it feels great to be able to pull it off today. It was a really good race. I just put my head down and tried to go forward—I’d look in the mirror maybe once a lap just to see where [Evagoras] was, and then I just kept going. The car was hooked up, thanks to the Crosslink Motorsports crew. I also have to thank my grandfather for always supporting me, N-E-Where Transport, and [Team Owner] Gill Kaszuba—all of them play a big part in this. I can’t wait for [Race 2]; hopefully we can come back and get another one.”
Whitney Strickland (No. 21 TF Companies / Hillenburg Motorsports Ligier JS F3) had a great Race 1 at Mid-Ohio, mixing it up with his teammate Eric Wisniewski (No. 25 REMAX Commercial / Hillenburg Motorsports Ligier JS F3). Staying clean all the way to the checkered flag, Strickland was able to clinch the win in the Masters Cup class, beating Kevin Janzen (No. 24 US Power Group/Data Center Solutions / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) to the finish line.
“It’s honestly been a pretty rough weekend—we had a rig break down, so we had to tow our cars and trailers and everything to get here,” explained Strickland atop the podium. “I’m just glad to get up here and be able to race. It was a 19-hour drive from Houston pulling the trailer, so I’m glad we were able to finish it off with a win today. Thanks to the Hillenburg Motorsports crew, Darryl, Danny and everybody on the team. The car was running really good today.”
