Andretti Global’s Louis Foster put his all-important stamp on the Indy NXT victory, storming from flag to flag from the pole position for all 65 laps to win the ultimate race of the season at Nashville Superspeedway.
The Briton was untouchable despite late pressure to carry off Abel Motorsports rookie Yuven Sundaramoorthy by 0.3071s on the 1.33-mile oval. The performance marked Foster’s tenth profession win, eight of which have come this season, during which he has also recorded 13 top-five finishes, 14 top-10 finishes, six pole positions and led 362 laps in 640 total in 14 races.
HMD Motorsports rookie Caio Collet finished third, Andretti Global’s James Roe was fourth and Andretti Cape rookie Salvador de Alba Jr. rounded out the highest five.
Race
Foster began from pole position after qualifying was interrupted resulting from rain and the grid was set to points. Abel needed to relinquish his second starting position after returning to the pit lane in the course of the pace laps resulting from a steering problem, returning before the green flag but being relegated to the back of the grid.
Foster got off to a clean start with rookie Collet second. Foster prolonged his result in 1.7147s on lap 10.
Meanwhile, Myles Rowe and Callum Hedge had a detailed fight for sixth place. The pair had a wheel-to-wheel moment after which touched going into Turn 1 as Rowe went to the surface. Rowe continued but Hedge was forced to pit.
The gap on the front continued to grow as Foster maintained a 2.0328s deficit over Collet on the halfway stage. However, there was a change in second place as Sundaramoorthy passed Collet.
By lap 40 Foster had a lead of three.1744 seconds over Sundaramoorthy, with Collet third and Roe fourth.
Abel bravely fought his way through the pack and moved as much as ninth place on lap 40, but was 20 seconds behind Foster.
The caution got here out with 14 laps to go after Chadwick tried to pass the overtaken automobile of Jack William Miller, however the two made contact at Turn 1, causing the previous to almost hit the wall before happening the within and thru the grass on the infield. She returned to the pits with suspension damage but was out of the race.
Foster led the sector to a restart with seven laps remaining and jumped out of the race, weaving up and down the track to forestall being towed by Sundaramoorthy.
The battle for victory was on with three laps to go, with Sundaramoorthy just behind Foster's gearbox and Collet a distant third, 1.7 seconds behind.
Despite the pressure in a while, Foster managed to take care of the lead and take the victory in his final Indy NXT event.
1 |
L. Foster Global |
26 | 65 | Active | ||||||
2 |
Y. Sundaramoort Abel Motorsports |
22 | 65 | 0.307 | Active | |||||
3 | C. Collar HMD Motorsports | 18 | 65 | 1,483 | Active | |||||
4 |
J. Roe Global |
29 | 65 | 0.300 | Active | |||||
5 |
S. De Cape Andretti INDY NXT |
2 | 65 | 0.864 | Active | |||||
6 |
Mr. d'Orlando Cape Andretti INDY NXT |
3 | 65 | 0.805 | Active | |||||
7 |
B. To Global |
27 | 65 | 1.243 | Active | |||||
8 |
J.Abel Abel Motorsports |
51 | 65 | 0.294 | Active | |||||
9 |
C. Brooks HMD Motorsports |
39 | 65 | 6.243 | Active | |||||
10 | J. Pierson HMD Motorsports | 14 | 64 | Active | ||||||
11 | C. Bogle HMD Motorsports | 7 | 64 | 0.203 | Active | |||||
12 |
J.Browne HMD Motorsports |
23 | 64 | 1,064 | Active | |||||
13 |
N. Allaer HMD Motorsports |
10 | 63 | Active | ||||||
14 |
M. Rowe HMD Motorsports |
99 | 62 | Active | ||||||
15 |
J. William Miller Vinatieri Motorsports |
40 | 59 | Down within the dumps | ||||||
16 |
C. Hedge HMD Motorsports |
17 | 54 | Active | ||||||
17 | J. Chadwick Global | 28 | 51 | To be continued | Accident | |||||
18 |
T. Ferns Abel Motorsports |
55 | 12 | NO | Pension |