First Winners of 2024 at the Formula Pro USA Western Championships

This past weekend marked the opening round of the 2024 Formula Pro USA Western Championships Presented by Exclusive Racing as teams and competitors took to the track at Thunderhill Raceway Park. With a doubleheader format that featured a race on Saturday and Sunday, the first victors in a new season of competition emerged.

“It’s always exciting to start a new season of competition and see new teams and competitors join our program,” explained BD Morgan. “We had a pair of first-time winners in the first event of the season and some great battles in F4. Congrats to Landon Lim on sweeping the weekend in F3 and to a pair of winners in F4, Brad Majman and Valentino Garbarino.”

Leading the way on Saturday in the FPUSA-F3 class were Kiwi Motorsport and Landon Lim from Shreveport, Louisiana. Earning the victory and 25 points for his effort, Lim also secured two bonus points for the fastest lap of the race as he dominated the day’s proceedings. Atlantic Racing Team’s James Lawley from Halifax, Nova Scotia and World Speed Motorsports driver Jay Horak from Mesa, Arizona also earned their first podium results of the season in second and third place respectively.

It was a day of domination for Kiwi Motorsport on Saturday as not only did they win the F3 class, but they also put a pair of drivers on the podium in the FPUSA-F4 division. 14-year-old Brad Majman, a karting sensation from Melbourne Australia, was able to best the rest of the F4 field climbing to the top of the box Saturday for the Kiwi squad, but it was the World Speed Motorsports entry of Valentino Garbarino from Martinez, California who nabbed the two bonus points for the fastest lap of the race as he finished just behind in second to keep the point spread to five after round one. Kiwi Motorsport’s Drew Szuch from St. Charles, Illinois was the third driver to stand on the podium in P3.

Picking up where he left off on Saturday, Landon Lim repeated his performance doubling up on his weekend wins and scoring his second victory in as many days. Just as he did the day prior, Lim also earned the fastest lap of the race to dominate the wheel-to-wheel racing and score the maximum points available. Jay Horak, who finished third on Saturday, improved one position on Sunday to stand on the podium in the second position, while Larry Schnur from Santa Monica, California beat out James Lawley for the third and final step on the podium in race two after Lawley suffered a tire issue on his Ligier JSF3.

Sunday’s F4 race featured a lot of passing between the podium contenders and coming out on top, scoring his first Formula Pro USA victory was that of young Valentino Garbarino. A perennial front-runner in karting for the past few seasons, Garbarino has made an instant impact in open-wheel racing and took the win. Behind him, Saturday’s race winner Brad Majman crossed the line in the second position on route to the fastest lap of the race and two bonus points while Drew Szuch doubled up on third-place podium results.

There will be a small break between rounds three and four as series teams and competitors return to Thunderhill Raceway Park over the April 19-21 weekend. Registration for the event is already open and can be found HERE.

Photo Credit: Exclusive Racing