Home Featured De Alba gets second Indy Nxt podium despite breaking car on lap one

De Alba gets second Indy Nxt podium despite breaking car on lap one

by Ida Wood

Photo: James Black

Andretti Cape’s Salvador de Alba claimed his second Indy Nxt podium in the Milwaukee 100, despite breaking his car by hitting the wall on lap one.

It was a good and bad opening lap for de Alba around the Milwaukee Mile oval, as on the rolling start he headed for the outside line before turn one but found Abel Motorsport’s Jacob Abel and HMD Motorsports’ Christian Brooks doing the same ahead.

Abel’s rear-right caught Brooks’ front-left, which sent him sliding sideways into de Alba who ended up slamming againt the wall. The driver who suffered most was Abel, dropping from second to sixth, while de Alba gained one place then another two on lap two.

“The start was what put us up there, but also what bent the car. So, tough, tough situation, tow link bent the whole race. For sure a bit frustrating. [But] of course, celebrating a lot the podium,” said de Alba post-race.

“Making up spots felt pretty good and [I was] very competitive. At the end we just lost the tyres and that’s it. But very happy with the third place.”

He ran in third until after a mid-race caution period, when he passed Andretti Global’s Jamie Chadwick for second. Victory then seemed a possibility as “definitely the car was in a pretty good window”, but on lap 59 of 90 the gap to leader Louis Foster grew to over a second and de Alba could not claw him back in.

Just over three laps from the finish he then lost out to Abel, but the podium still lifted him from seventh to fifth in the standings with a race to go.

De Alba credited his increased understanding of Indy Nxt’s car at the end of his rookie season for his recent form, having finished fourth and third in the preceding two oval races.

“The team is helping me a lot in between races to work on my downsides, and that’s what has helped me more. And I’ll keep it like this in the off-season, working a lot on my struggles. Just one more race to go, trying to be as competitive as today.”

The first oval race of the season at Iowa Speedway, three races ago, marked de Alba’s first top-10 result in qualifying from 10 attempts. He has followed that up with two ninths and a sixth, and feels in qualifying “I’ve improved a lot but it’s still the toughest to me”. But “a good thing is that I know that and I’m very keen on working that in the off-season, in between the races and whatever it takes, I’ll do it to be up there”.

Therefore a second season in Indy Nxt looks very much on the cards for the 24-year-old two-time NASCAR Mexico champion and USF Pro 2000 race-winner, whose career is backed by ex-IndyCar racer Michel Jourdain. At Milwaukee he also had the support of Oriol Servia, who finished second to Jourdain in Champ Car’s “super cool” race there in 2003.