Johnson holds off Taylor to win caution-filled Indy Nxt opener

Photo: Penske Entertainment / Joe Skibinski

Nikita Johnson used a first corner move to take a lead he would not give up in Indy Nxt’s season-opening race in St. Petersburg.

The 18-year-old claimed his and Cape Motorsports’ maiden victory in the championship, and it was a winning start for his team’s partnership with Ed Carpenter Racing.

There was drama pre-race as radio trouble meant Chip Ganassi Racing’s Niels Koolen did not leave the pits with the rest of the field. He was able to make it out in time to join the race start, when Andretti Global’s poleman Max Taylor led the field up to racing speeds.

He covered the inside line going into the opening corner, while fellow front row starter Johnson went to the outside and had taken the lead before even reaching the apex of turn one.

The field navigated the first braking zones without issue, and HMD Motorsports’ Tymek Kucharczyk overtook Andretti’s Seb Murray and Lochie Hughes for third. Later in the lap, HMD’s Jack Beeton spun then AJ Foyt Racing’s Alessandro de Tullio drove into the rear of Andretti’s Josh Pierson, which led to a caution period.

Racing resumed on lap four of a scheduled 45, and Abel Motorsports with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe had to hold off Pierson for sixth into turn one.

Two laps later there was another caution-triggering event as Ganassi’s Carson Etter broke his front wing then drove over the top of it and into the barriers exiting turn eight.

The next restart was on lap 10, and Taylor tried reclaiming the lead around the outside of turn one but there was not enough room for him to stay alongside into turn one. Murray fought Kucharczyk twice during the lap, but could not maintain his challenge.

Everyone was setting personal best laptimes, and Taylor was mostly able to match Johnson’s pace until the next caution period when Foyt’s Nicholas Monteiro crashing out exiting turn nine on lap 17.

Murray looked to Kucharczyk’s outside approaching turn one on the lap 21 restart, and Koolen got alongside team-mate James Roe Jr on the twisty stretch between turns two and three. They rubbed wheels, then crashed, and racing was neutralised once more.

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Alexander Koreiba and Cape’s Matteo Nannini were deemed to have violated the rules of the restart and sent to the back for the next one on lap 26. This time it took two laps for Johnson to make a 0.9-second gap, with Kucharczyk a further 0.9s back, but Taylor reduced it to 0.7s as the race became a timed encounter that would mean a 42-lap distance.

Taylor set a new fastest lap on lap 33, getting within 0.45s of Johnson, but the leader responded and had a 0.86s margin after lap 35 as he lowered his own pace. The pair continued pushing, and Johnson took the fastest lap next time by. He was now 0.971s ahead, and while Taylor did respond by lowering his own pace, both did on lap 38 and Johnson broke a second clear with another fastest lap. The debuting Kucharczyk, engineered by Tim Neff, was now 4.43s behind.

Taylor reclaimed the fastest lap on the next tour, and saving up his push-to-pass for a late-race attack. But Johnson had used it sparingly too, so as both hit the button over the final two laps it meant Johnson was still able to win by 0.699s.

Kucharczyk fell a further second behind, with Murray close behind but never attacking, and Hughes finished fifth. A lot further back was Rowe, who had continued to hold off Pierson, and HMD’s Salvador de Alba finished eighth after passing Abel’s Max Garcia on lap 26 (having conceded a place to him in a forceful turn one move on lap 11) then overtaking Cusick Morgan Motorsports’ Juan Manuel Correa on lap 31.

Beeton recovered to 11th, and Bryce Aron was Ganassi’s top driver in 18th.

Race results (42 laps)