Patrick Woods-Toth secured the 2024 Formula Regional Americas title one round early after dominating the series’ first-ever round at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, his home event. Before the start of the round, Woods-Toth discussed his season and the Canadian motorsport landscape with Feeder Series and selected media.

By Laura Anequini

Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport’s Woods-Toth was already leading the standings with a 31.5-point gap over second-placed Ryan Shehan entering Canada last weekend. By sealing the deal at his home event, the Canadian won one more title as rookie after winning F4 US in 2023.

Having transitioned from karting to cars just a year and a half ago after winning a scholarship programme funded by Canadian NASCAR driver Ron Fellows, Woods-Toth enjoyed a smooth first season in a single-seaters – and then some. He secured the 2023 F4 US title with an 81-point lead over second-placed Titus Sherlock, finishing the year with four wins and just one race finish outside the points. 

Stepping up to FR Americas would be another challenge, however, even with a winter campaign in FR Oceania in which he finished third and as best rookie.

“From the F4 to the FR, I think it was a huge step,” Woods-Toth says. “It changes a lot of your driving style, but it’s been fun so far.”

In FR Americas, he also had to face returning drivers such as Shehan and Nicole Havrda along with familiar faces from F4 US, including Sherlock. Most of his opposition came from within his Crosslink-Kiwi team.

“My teammates are quite fast. We share data, videos. We have the best team, no doubts,” he says. “Everyone is quick on that series.” 

Woods-Toth quickly established himself as one of the drivers to beat by finishing on the podium in all three races of the opening round, even winning the second one. The run of strong results has continued as he has finished in the top three in 14 of the 17 races so far this year.

But unlike his 2023 season, his 2024 season featured a bumpier route to the championship title. 

After his strong showing at NOLA, Woods-Toth had a tricky second round at Road America. He won the opening race but finished race two in 12th and retired from race three after suffering spins at the high-speed Turn 11 in each of the last two races. 

Meanwhile, his teammates had great weekends that helped them close the gap to him. Shehan, who finished fourth in race one and second in the next two, tied him on 86 points, while Sherlock’s two wins and one second-place finish put him only 6.5 points behind.  

While Woods-Toth took two wins at Indianapolis, Shehan kept performing week over week and had momentum on his side, making the battle for the lead a close one. Shehan had a 6.5-point lead of his own after Indianapolis before taking  a clean sweep of the Mid-Ohio round. 

At that point, both drivers had four wins and eight total podiums, but Shehan held a 23.5-point advantage thanks to his consistent scoring in the other races.

But then, right before round five at New Jersey Motorsports Park, an announcement caught everyone by surprise: Shehan would be dropping out of FR Americas for the remainder of the season because of a budget shortfall. Despite leading the championship, he had decided to shift his focus to pursuing racing in Europe in 2025 and has since been testing GB3 cars for Hillspeed.

Shehan’s departure from the series came in addition to Sherlock’s withdrawal from the Mid-Ohio round after a brake failure caused a head-on collision with the wall in practice two that left him with cuts, bruises and back pain. He was more than 100 points adrift of Shehan by the end of the weekend.

With two of the championship contenders out, Woods-Toth now only needed to keep performing in the same way he had done all season to win the title. In round six, the first one without Shehan, he did exactly that. By finishing races one and two in the top three and winning race three, Woods-Toth got the points he needed to open the gap over his rivals. After the round, he held a 31.5-point lead over Shehan and a 79.5-point lead over Nicolas Ambiado in third. 

Neither appeared in Bowmanville.

To secure the title at his home race – the first outside the United States for FR Americas – Woods-Toth needed to leave with a lead of at least 50 points. If he didn’t, the decision would go to the last round at the Circuit of The Americas, where he wrapped up his 2023 title. As he was performing and without his main rivals present, winning the championship was only a matter of time.

When asked about the keys to race victory, Woods-Toth answered, “You really need to qualify well, have a good start, and whoever leads the first lap has a big chance of winning the race.

“That doesn’t mean that stuff can’t happen. Overtakes and racing is something that I love, and I think I can do a good job.”

Said and done. Woods-Toth qualified on pole on Friday and had a great start to race one on Saturday, maintaining his lead off the line. Sherlock, who was second, kept him honest, but Woods-Toth stayed in front and won the race.

The win meant Woods-Toth, peculiarly, held a 100-point lead over both Sherlock and Jett Bowling with four races and 100 points still on offer. On countback, Bowling was already eliminated as he had zero wins to Woods-Toth’s six and no way to make up the difference, but Sherlock, with three wins, had the slimmest of chances if he won all four remaining races and Woods-Toth failed to score.

With only 10 cars in the field and 10 points-paying positions available, however, Woods-Toth just needed to finish the race to secure the title.  But he dominated from pole again,  leading the field for the entire race and taking the chequered flag with a 2.255-second lead to become the new FR Americas champion. A dominant victory in race three on Sunday gave Woods-Toth his first career weekend sweep in cars.

Winning the championship was already a big deal, but winning the championship as a rookie in his home race was something even more special. Woods-Toth joins Kyle Kirkwood and Dakota Dickerson in the small group of drivers who have won back-to-back titles in F4 U.S. and FR Americas. In addition, Woods-Toth was also the first Canadian to win a junior single-seater series at this level since 2016, when Lance Stroll became European F3 champion.

What it meant for Woods-Toth to be putting Canada back on the on the map in junior single-seaters?

“It’s really cool,” he told Feeder Series. “In the past, there’s been people like Robert Wickens or Ron. There are so many Canadians that’ve put themselves on the map elsewhere, but there is no one else doing like we are right now and we’re just trying to take advantage of it. It’s a cool opportunity.”

Wickens and Fellows are not only idols in Canadian motorsport but also important backers of Woods-Toth, who has a low personal budget and no parents to bankroll his career. Those who have helped him are Robert’s older brother, karting team owner Trevor Wickens; Fellows; and real estate magnate Carlo Fidani, whose son, Oren, races in IMSA.Through their company, Canadian Motorsport Ventures, Fellows and Fidani own CTMP, making Woods-Toth’s home title win particularly poignant.

Woods-Toth hopes his success can help reassert the country’s relevance in a motorsport landscape where Canadian drivers are few and far between.

“There hasn’t been a Canadian in a while because it’s quite tough to find funding,” Woods-Toth told Feeder Series. “Every time we go racing, it’s in the US, or in Europe or whatever, it might be as far as single-seaters go, and that’s really making it tough for us.

“But we are trying to pave the way from karting all the way to the pinnacle of motorsports, whether that be IndyCar, Formula One, whatever we can reach, and we’re just trying to see what we can do.” 

Header photo credit: Gavin Baker