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2026 Atlantic Championship Series season
Season
Races	14
Start date	March 12
End date	October 18
Awards

The 2026 Atlantic Championship Series season is the thirteenth season of the revived Atlantic Championship. The series is organized by Formula Race Promotions and sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing.

The season will be held over seven weekends from January to October 2026.

Drivers and teams

Drivers compete in three classes: the 016 Class is only open to Swift 016a cars, while the USF Juniors Class is open to Tatuus PM-18 cars and the Open Class serves all other eligible entries.

Team	No.	Driver	Car	Rounds
016 Class entries
DrivenTires.com	8	Ryan Saari	2006 Swift 016	2, 5
		Vaughn Glace		4
K-Hill Motorsports	06	Harbir Dass	2006 Swift 016	3–5
	9			1–2
	74	Dudley Fleck	2006 Swift 016 Mazda	2–3
Zober Industries Inc.	66	Richard Zober	2006 Swift 016 Mazda	4
MotoNomaddicts	68	John McAleer	2006 Swift 016	1–3
Open Class entries
Arrive Drive Motorsports	3	Drew Holtgraewe	2018 JDR F1000	5
	07	Austin Holtgraewe	2025 JDR F1000	5
	33	Ayrton Houk	2018 JDR F1000	1
	39	Tim Pierce	2012 JDR F1000	1
		Pierce Krone		5
K-Hill Motorsports	4	Jean-Luc Liverato	2007 Dallara IPS	1
	06	Bruce Hamilton	2001 Swift 014 MZR	1, 5
	32	Kirk Kindsfater	2002 Swift 014.a	4
Forty 48 Competition	46	James French	2001 Swift 014/CSR	1, 3
	71	Jeffrey Antonelli	2006 Star Pro Mazda	3
Vardis Motorsports	00	Nicho Vardis	2013 JDR F1000	2–4
Team Tonis	09	J.R. Smart	2002 Swift 014.a	3
Susman Godfrey LLP	18	Rocco Magni	2021 Ligier JS F3	1
TF Companies	21	Whitney Strickland	2025 Ligier JS F3	5
Home Tech Consultants	41	Robert Albani	2001 Swift 014 MZR	1, 5
USF Juniors Class entries
Sources:

Race calendar

The race schedule was announced on September 30, 2024. Pittsburgh International Race Complex dropped off the schedule after the track was closed down, and New Jersey Motorsports Park was also not featured, with the series instead debuting at the Carolina Motorsports Park and returning to Barber Motorsports Park for the first time since 2022.

Round		Circuit	Date	Support bill	Map of circuit locations
1	H1	Road Atlanta, Braselton	March 14	SVRA Sprint Series Trans-Am Series Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy USA	Road Atlanta Mid-Ohio Road America Watkins Glen Summit Point Kershaw Barber
	H2		March 15
	FR
2	H1	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington	April 25	FRP race weekend Formula Ford Challenge Series Formula Vee Challenge Cup Series Vintage Sports 2000 North America
	H2		April 26
	FR
3	H1	Road America, Elkhart Lake	June 27	Trans-Am Series Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy USA
	H2		June 28
	FR
4	H1	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen	July 18	Trans-Am Series Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy USA Formula Continental Challenge Series
	H2
	FR		July 19
5	H1	Summit Point Motorsports Park, Summit Point	August 8	FRP race weekend
	H2		August 9
	FR
6	H1	Carolina Motorsports Park, Kershaw	August 28–30	FRP race weekend
	H2
	FR
7	H1	Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham	October 16–18	SVRA Sprint Series Formula Regional Americas Championship
	H2
	FR

Race results

Round		Circuit	Pole position	016 Class		Open Class		USF Juniors Class
				Fastest lap	Winning driver	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Fastest lap	Winning driver
1	H1	Road Atlanta	Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	John McAleer	James French	James French	no entries
	H2			Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	James French	James French
	FR			Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	James French	James French
2	H1	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	Nicho Vardis	Nicho Vardis
	H2			Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	Nicho Vardis	Nicho Vardis
	FR			John McAleer	John McAleer	Nicho Vardis	Nicho Vardis
3	H1	Road America	Harbir Dass	Dudley Fleck	Harbir Dass	Nicho Vardis	J.R. Smart
	H2			Dudley Fleck	Dudley Fleck	J.R. Smart	J.R. Smart
	FR			Dudley Fleck	Dudley Fleck	no starters
4	H1	Watkins Glen International	Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	Nicho Vardis	Nicho Vardis
	H2			declared non-race after delay due to a crash
	FR			Vaughn Glace	Vaughn Glace	Nicho Vardis	Nicho Vardis
5	H1	Summit Point Motorsports Park	Harbir Dass	race cancelled due to inclement weather
	H2			Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	Bruce Hamilton	Bruce Hamilton
	FR			Harbir Dass	Harbir Dass	Bruce Hamilton	Bruce Hamilton
6	H1	Carolina Motorsports Park
	H2
	FR
7	H1	Barber Motorsports Park
	H2
	FR

Season report

The opening round of the 2026 Atlantic Championship was held at Road Atlanta. K-Hill Motorsports driver Harbir Dass claimed pole position in the 016 Class, but mechanical issues meant he was unable to finish the first heat race, with MotoNomaddicts driver John McAleer, the only other entrant in class, taking the win. Dass bounced back in heat race two, before then also winning the feature race to close up in the standings. The Open Class saw James French sweep the weekend in his Forty 48 Competition entry. He took pole position in qualifying before beating Arrive Drive Motorsports’ Ayrton Houk and K-Hill Motorsports’ Bruce Hamilton to victory in heat race one. He doubled up in race two, with Hamilton second this time, before going three for three in the feature race to end the weekend with a 23-point advantage over Hamilton, who came second once again.

Round two of the season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course saw two more entries join the 016 class in Ryan Saari, competing for DrivenTires.com, and K-Hill Motorsports driver Dudley Fleck. Dass took his second pole position of the year before dominating the first heat race ahead of Fleck and Saari. He repeated the feat in the second heat race, with Fleck second again and McAleer this time taking third. He looked set to remain unbeaten in the feature race, but retired with a car issue after leading the first ten laps. McAleer took over at the front to take victory and remain 39 points ahead of Dass in the standings as Saari took second as the only other finisher in class. The Open Class meanwhile saw just a single entrant for round two: Vardis Motorsports' Nicho Vardis therefore swept the weekend, taking maximum points to draw equal with pre-event class leader French.

Road America hosted round three, and Dass took 016 class pole position once again ahead of his competitors Fleck and McAleer. He converted his advantage into victory in the first heat race as McAleer had to retire with a technical issue. Dass's luck turned in the second heat race, as this time he hit technical trouble and finished third, with the win going to Fleck. The latter then doubled up in the feature race and took another victory as McAleer grew his points lead with another second place. Competition in the Open class began with pole position for Vardis, before he was bested by French, Team Tonis driver J.R. Smart and Forty 48's Jeffrey Antonelli in the race. French was then disqualified, handing victory to Smart, who then also won the second heat race as the sole finisher. None of the four Open class entrants started the feature race, so Vardis took over the class lead.

Round four at Watkins Glen International saw disruptions and delays caused by weather throughout, leading to the series' races being combined with the F2000 Championship Series races. Dass was among only a few drivers completing laps in the wet qualifying session to start the first race from pole position, and he converted that into a lights-to-flag victory. DrivenTires' series debutant Vaughn Glace was the only other 016 competitor to start the first race. A heavy crash for two F2000 competitors and the subsequent delays saw the second race declared a non-event, before Glace doubled up on his race 1 podium and took victory in the feature race. Dass retired after just two laps, but still took the championship lead over the absent McAleer. Vardis was the only Open Class driver starting any of the two races, so he took two more victories to extend his points lead to 107.

Standings

Scoring system

The weekend format and with it the points system were overhauled for the 2026 season. Each weekend now comprises three races, the first two of which are designated as Heat Races and award points per class according to the following scale.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th+
Points	25	23	21	19	17	15	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

The third race of the weekend, called the Feature Race, awards more points:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th+
Points	50	42	37	34	31	29	27	25	23	21	19	17	15	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Three points are awarded for pole position in each class, as well as two more points for the fastest lap per race per class. Each driver's three worst results will be dropped.

Drivers' standings

Pos Driver ATL MOH ROA WGL SUM CAR BAR Pts R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 016 Class standings 1 Harbir Dass Ret 1 1 1 1 Ret 1 3 3 1 C Ret C 1 1 342 2 John McAleer 1 2 2 4 3 1 Ret 2 2 248 3 Dudley Fleck 2 2 DNS 2† 1 1 150 4 Ryan Saari 3 4 2 WD WD WD C 2 Ret 106 5 Vaughn Glace 2 C 1 75 — Richard Zober DNS C DNS 0 Open Class standings 1 Nicho Vardis 1 1 1 3 DNS DNS 1 C 1 217 2 Bruce Hamilton 3 2 2 C 1 1 168 3 James French 1 1 1 DSQ Ret DNS 110 4 Pierce Krone C 3 2 63 5 Whitney Strickland C 5 3 54 6 J.R. Smart 1 1 DNS 52 7 Austin Holtgraewe C 4 5 50 8 Drew Holtgraewe C 6 4 49 9 Ayrton Houk 2 3 DNS 44 10 Jeffrey Antonelli 2 Ret DNS 24 11 Robert Albani DNS WD WD C 2 Ret 24 — Jean-Luc Liverato DNS DNS DNS 0 — Rocco Magni DNS WD WD 0 — Tim Pierce DNS WD WD 0 — Kirk Kindsfater DNS C DNS 0 Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 Pts ATL MOH ROA WGL SUM CAR BAR

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap * – Penalty

See also

• 2026 F2000 Championship Series
• 2026 F1600 Championship Series

External links

• Official website: Formula Race Promotions