Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography

Nico Ambiado became the second driver in Formula Regional Americas Championship history to complete a race weekend at New Orleans Motorsports Park without finishing a race lower than second place this weekend after a dominant showing in his Kiwi Motorsports debut.

The weekend also included the Chilean driver’s first pole position in the series, kicking off the season with a commanding seventeen point lead after the first three races. He took pole by .147 seconds over teammate Bruno Ribeiro, who joined Ambiado and Jett Bowling on the podium for a Kiwi 1-2-3 finish.

The last race of the weekend capped off Ambiado’s dominance down south with a touching moment as well, when fellow Chilean driver and Formula 4 United States Championship podium finisher Clemente Huerta handed Ambiado his country’s flag, which he hoisted proudly on top of the podium as he collected his first win in the series since July 2024.

Ambiado will walk away from NOLA Motorsports Park with a 15-point lead over Toney Driver Development’s Brady Golan. Ambiado’s weekend total of 52 points is partially quelled by only half points being issued in the first race of the weekend where Ambiado finished second due to more than half of the race being spent under a safety car.

Despite this, he managed to stay near the front of the two full points races during the weekend, capping off a fantastic performance for the second-year driver.

The one place where Ambiado shined the most in New Orleans is his single-lap pace. He secured the fastest lap in both of the first two races and was less than a tenth of a second off of Ribeiro’s fastest lap in the final race of the weekend.

Nico Ambiado and the Formula Regional Americas grid will compete next at the Road America SpeedTour from May 15-18. More details can be found here.