Foster gets his second Indy Nxt win in a row in Detroit

Photo: IndyCar

Louis Foster took his second Indy Nxt win in a row in a pace car-filled race in Detroit.

The Andretti Global driver was untroubled throughout the race, despite having to manage restarts, and won by 0.3608 seconds due to the race ending behind the pace car following a multi-car incident with three laps remaining.

Foster was one of the few drivers to not have any problems, and he is now second in the championship.

He was already two seconds clear of Caio Collet when the first caution period occurred after an incident on lap four. Collet, who had got into second just before that, was unable to stick with Foster on the restart.

The lead fight played out a similarly way on the next two restarts, with Collet never challenging Foster. But he did manage to remain comfortably ahead of the battle for third.

The cause of the final caution period was James Roe Jr spinning and collecting Nollan Allen, Neils Koolen and Christian Bogle. Koolen was able to get going again and make it to the pits, but the other cars had to be cleared.

Points leader Jacob Abel started on the front row, and struggled for pace in the race’s second half. He lost second to Collet early on, but did a good job of holding off Michael d’Orlando to hold onto third. D’Orlando managed to get alongside and almost took the position, before a spin led to contact with Abel.

While Abel only dropped behind Callum Hedge and Myles Rowe due to the incident, d’Orlando fell to the back of the order.

Rowe snatched third from Hedge just after a full course yellow period, but Hedge regained the position to take his first podium.

Jack William Miller had a troubled race. After battling with Hedge early on, he took a trip up an escape road on lap 14 of 45 and dropped to the back. He tried to make up ground, only to go down an escape road again and cause a caution period.

Two other drivers that started well but ran into trouble were Jamie Chadwick and Yuven Sundaramoorthy, who were battling in the middle of the top 10 when they made slight contact. Chadwick suffered a puncture and had to pit, and Sundaramoorthy battled on with a damaged front wing. 

Reece Gold finished sixth, and the various incidents helped Salvador de Alba come home seventh, having climbed up from the back of the grid along with Rowe.  Josh Pierson, Jonathan Browne and d’Orlando completed the top 10.

Pre-race there was drama for Nolan Siegel, who had an issue with the rear-left of his car that meant he did not join the race until several laps had already taken place. The rate of attrition meant he finished 18th, but dropped to third in the championship standings.

The debuting Ricardo Escotto received a drive-through penalty for blocking, but did not serve it due to his radio not working and so he was disqualified.

Race result (45 laps)