Matteo Nannini drove to his first career INDY NXT by Firestone victory, holding off fellow series rookie Louis Foster in a compelling duel Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Nannini, from Italy, drove his No. 75 Juncos Hollinger Racing car from the pole to the victory by .3909 of a second over the No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship car of Foster, fielded by Andretti Autosport. Nannini led all 35 laps of the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix despite unyielding pressure from Foster over the last quarter of the race.
Kyffin Simpson finished a lonely third in the No. 21 HMD Motorsports with CGR machine, 9.8065 seconds behind winner Nannini on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.
This was the first INDY NXT by Firestone victory for Juncos Hollinger Racing since September 2019, when current NTT INDYCAR SERIES standout Rinus VeeKay swept the season-ending doubleheader at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. That also was the last INDY NXT by Firestone win for a team other than HMD Motorsports or Andretti Autosport.
Nannini jumped from 17th to fourth in the standings for INDYCAR’s development series with the win.
Hunter McElrea finished fourth in the No. 27 Smart Motors car fielded by Andretti Autosport. Championship leader Christian Rasmussen rounded out the top five in the No. 6 HMD Motorsports with DCR machine after a spirited duel for position with McElrea for much of the second half of the race.
Nannini controlled the race from the start, building a lead of one second after the first green-flag lap and padding that margin to 1.580 seconds by Lap 7.
But Foster stayed in touch, deftly managing his Firestone tires and push-to-pass time for a drive toward the front. With 10 laps to go, Foster closed the gap to within three-tenths of a second.
Foster had two good looks at trying to pass Nannini at the end of the back straightaway entering Turn 7, on Lap 33 and the final lap, but couldn’t pull close enough to make a potentially winning pass stick. Nannini had exhausted his push-to-pass before the final lap, with Foster having five seconds remaining on the final trip around the circuit.
The next INDY NXT by Firestone event is a doubleheader June 3-4 at the Detroit Grand Prix on the streets of the Motor City.
Race Results (order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any))
1/ (1) Matteo Nannini, 35, Running
2/ (3) Louis Foster, 35, Running
3/ (4) Kyffin Simpson, 35, Running
4/ (2) Hunter McElrea, 35, Running
5/ (6) Christian Rasmussen, 35, Running
6/ (5) Josh Green, 35, Running
7/ (8) James Roe, 35, Running
8/ (10) Rasmus Lindh, 35, Running
9/ (9) Jacob Abel, 35, Running
10/ (11) Enaam Ahmed, 35, Running
11/ (12) Danial Frost, 35, Running
12/ (13) Colin Kaminsky, 35, Running
13/ (16) Nolan Siegel, 35, Running
14/ (17) Jagger Jones, 35, Running
15/ (14) Jamie Chadwick, 35, Running
16/ (15) Reece Gold, 35, Running
17/ (7) Josh Pierson, 35, Running
18/ (18) Christian Bogle, 35, Running
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