INDIANAPOLIS — Jett Bowling earned his first Formula Regional Americas Championship win on Sunday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Returning to the site of his first top-three finish, the ninth time on the podium was finally the charm as the 20-year-old drove to victory lane.
Starting the race on the outside of the front row, Bowling (No. 22 Bullhorn / Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) had to battle down the frontstretch with polesitter Brady Golan (No. 80 Attire / Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) and third-place starter Nicolas Ambiado (No. 55 Velox USA / Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3), who pulled up to make a three-wide battle into Turn 1.
Despite being on the outside, Bowling drove deep into the corner and was able to take control of the race.
Never looking back, Bowling held the point position all the way through the checkered flag, enduring a mid-race restart and holding off the challenges of his Kiwi Motorsport teammates.
As they crossed the Yard of Bricks to take the checkered flag, it was Bowling, followed by Bruno Ribeiro (No. 01 Alfa Cem / Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) and Nicolas Stati (No. 15 Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3).
Ambiado spent much of the race in the second position, but faded in the final laps to cross the bricks fourth, while Alex Benavitz (No. 5 HendrickCars.com / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) completed the top five.
“This feels great,” said Bowling. “I just want to say ‘happy birthday’ to my mom; it was my dad’s birthday yesterday and today’s Father’s Day, so this one’s for them. I could spend an hour thanking people, but thank you to Steve, Garry, Teena, Alex—it’s been a long time coming. Thank you to Chris, our tire guy—he owes me 10 miles on the treadmill now. I also want to thank [driver coach] David Brabham; it’s a huge help to have him here with me. Really, thank you to so many people—I can’t say that enough. I always knew I could, but now, I proved it. God was with me in the car today; that’s how I got up here.”
