Julian Swanson Takes Third in American Formula Opener

Julian Swanson kicked off his American Formula Sim Series campaign with a third-place podium finish in Round 1 of the Exhibition Series at Watkins Glen International. Fighting among 25 drivers in the 550-horsepower Dallara SF23 on iRacing, the 17-year-old Calgary driver crossed the finish line fourth on track before being promoted to third when a driver ahead exceeded the series incident limit on the final lap.

The exhibition rounds serve as the proving ground for drivers chasing one of the 20 locked grid spots in the main winter championship, where competitors race across road courses and ovals for a $5,000 cash purse and a real-world Formula 3 test. Swanson is joined in the series by fellow SRN Esports drivers Preston Le and Kenzie Van der Weerken, while SRN Ambassador Kevin Foster—the 2022 FEED Racing champion, French F4 race winner, and iRacing Super Formula world record holder—is also taking part and enters as a favorite to win the series.

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Julian Swanson in Blue

SRN Esports teammates Julian Swanson, Preston Le, and Kenzie Van der Weerken are joined on the grid by SRN Ambassador Kevin Foster in the hunt for the top 20.

Julian Swanson piloting the #51 SRN Esports Dallara SF23 during Exhibition Round 1 at Watkins Glen.

Dirty Air, Tire Strategy, and Closing the Gap

With unlimited laps in qualifying to set a flyer, track position proved critical around the high-speed Watkins Glen layout. Following another Dallara SF23 in dirty air meant a driver needed roughly half a second per lap in pace advantage just to complete an overtake.

Swanson qualified fifth behind a stacked front group that included two top-level Super Formula regulars and a professional formula driver. Early in the opening stint, teammate Preston Le made a mistake and let Swanson through into fourth. Running in clean air, Swanson immediately went to work—turning faster laps than all three leaders ahead of him and trimming a 2.3-second gap down to just 1.0 second over a couple of laps.

Starting on a 50% fuel load, every driver had to make a mandatory pit stop during the 45-minute race. Swanson hit his fuel numbers on the mark and opted for a fresh set of four tires. However, the race winner conserved his initial set of rubber during the opening stint and skipped tires in the pits, maintaining fast lap times in the second stint without losing time waiting for cold tires to come up to temperature.

"Basically, the race was all about qually, dirty air meant you had to be around 0.5s a lap quicker than the car in front, and with 2 drivers in front who main super formula at the highest level, and one who is a formula pro driver, beating that deficit would be difficult. Quallied 5th, and Preston let me by after he made a mistake, I was able to then set laps faster than the leading 3 drivers, gaining a 2.3s gap down to a 1s gap over a couple laps. I pit for tires and fuel, fuelled perfectly, but taking tires wasn't the right move when comparing to the winner. He was conserving his tires for the first stint which let him still drive quick in the second stint whilst also not having to wait for his tires to heat up. In the end, I was almost close enough to take 3rd, but making an overtake is super difficult. Had I put push 2 pass on earlier then maybe it would've been a P3, but it was a good result nonetheless."

How the Nine-Incident Cap Decided the Podium

Beyond raw speed and pit strategy, the Watkins Glen opener was shaped by strict incident rules designed to enforce clean driving. Series officials rewarded a zero-incident race with bonus points while docking one championship point for every single incident point accrued. Taking a single 4x contact effectively created a nine-point swing once the lost clean-race bonus was factored in, and reaching 9x resulted in an automatic disqualification.

That 9x ceiling caught out multiple competitors, starting with a chain-reaction rear-end checkup at the back of the pack during the formation lap and culminating on the final lap when a driver running ahead of Swanson hit the nine-incident limit and was disqualified. After closing right onto the tail of third place at the checkered flag, Swanson's disciplined drive paid off with an official promotion to third overall.

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Julian Swanson hustling the #51 SRN Esports, Grid Geeks, Race To Approval, and Heusinkveld Dallara SF23 over the Watkins Glen curbs on his way to third place.

Next Up: Circuit of the Americas

With exhibition race finishes counting toward overall qualification for the 20-car championship grid, even clean top-12 results keep drivers well in contention for the main series cutoff. Swanson's third-place podium puts him in prime position early as the American Formula Sim Series heads to Circuit of the Americas (COTA) next Thursday for the next exhibition showdown.