Motor racing-F1 Academy adds North American races after Saudi cancellation

LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) - The all-female F1 Academy series has made up for the cancellation of a round in Saudi Arabia this month by adding races to the schedule in Montreal and Austin, Texas.

A three-race weekend format at those venues, announced on Tuesday by the Formula One support series, restores the calendar to 14 races across six rounds in five countries.

Formula One called off, and has not rescheduled, April races in Bahrain and Jeddah due to conflict in the Gulf region and Iran.

In Saudi Arabia's absence, Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve now hosts the second round of the F1 Academy in May while Austin is the fifth stop in October.

The new format will introduce an ‘Opening Race’, before a reverse grid race and feature race, with the grid determined by the drivers' second fastest qualifying laps and full points awarded.

Austrian Emma Felbermayr, backed by Audi, leads the standings after one round.

F1 Academy said an update to the sporting regulations would allow an Opening Race to be added elsewhere in future "either to maintain consistency in race count across a season or to make use of additional available track time at an event".