Photo: Ida Wood
Nolan Allaer will jump up the single-seater ladder this year from Formula Ford to Indy Nxt, the primary feeder series for IndyCar.
The 21-year-old American was the SCCA National Runoff winner in Formula Continental and Formula F last year, beating his father Robert to victory by 5.389 seconds in the former and being victorious by 0.051s over Jonathan Kotyk in the latter.
He primarily raced wingless cars in the UK as he came sixth in BRSCC National FF1600 and 16th in the FFord Festival after winning a heat. Earlier this month he took part in an Indy Nxt test with HMD Motorsports, and will now race for the team in the series.
“It’s a surreal experience for me to make the move to Indy Nxt,” said Allaer. “The whole idea came from a phone call from a friend who said you should look at the United States ladder programme. I reached out to [HMD general manager] Mike Maurini via direct message on Instagram, and the rest is history. The team has been so welcoming, and the knowledge and experience that they bring to the table will help fast-track my learning.”
He added: “Sometimes things just line up, and plans work out. After contacting HMD Motorsports and learning that they had a car available, the choice was easy. The timing just happened to be pure luck for us, but we were immediately on the phone with partners and were able to put together a programme for 2024.
“I have already completed two days of testing in mixed conditions, but I learned so much with a wet, drying and dry racetrack at Sebring. The car is incredible, and I can’t wait for more.”
Allaer is HMD’s ninth signing for 2024, and the driver making the biggest jump since FF1600 is a category that could be considered to be in single-seater racing’s sixth tier.
Maurini commented: “The jump from Formula 600 to Indy Nxt is big, but what most people don’t know is that Nolan was testing other vehicles as he prepared for Indy Nxt. Despite the conditions at Sebring, Nolan learned a lot, and while two days of dry running would have been great to see where he stacked up, he was able to experience a lot of conditions and scenarios in just two days all while not running any new tyres to better prepare himself for our upcoming Laguna Seca test.”