Photo: James Black
Nikita Johnson, the reigning Indy Nxt champion, has secured his graduation to IndyCar by signing with Dale Coyne Racing for 2027.
The 18-year-old American has five years of full-time single-seater experience under his belt, and made his IndyCar test debut with his new team at Barber Motorsports Park last month.
That test was used to evaluate Johnson and Formula 2 race-winner Alex Dunne against each other as they contended for one of Dale Coyne’s vacant seats.
“I want to thank Dale Coyne and everyone on the team for this amazing opportunity,” said Johnson.
“I would also like to thank my family for their unwavering support and my management team, for working with Dale Coyne to take the next step in my career. I am focused on working with the DCR team to maximize this opportunity at the top level of motorsports.”
DCR’s team owner Dale Coyne commented: “This is a great opportunity for DCR to sign a young and talented driver with an impressive resumé. Nikita has raced many types of cars and has gained great experience in the USA with Indy Nxt, the USF series, Formula Regional in New Zealand, and GB3 and Formula 3 in England and Europe.”
Aged just 12, Johnson began his car racing career in the YACademy Winter Series for first-generation Formula 4 cars in early 2021 and was a race-winner, but was not old enough to race again until a year later when he returned to the series and took the title.
He spent the rest of the year in USF Juniors, coming third in the standings with three wins, and stepped up another level to USF2000 for three rounds and made the podium.
Johnson was USF2000 runner-up in 2023, and won in his two outings when he stepped up to the third-tier USF Pro 2000 later in the year, making a big impression on IndyCar’s support bill.
In addition to going full-time in USFP2000 for 2024, coming second in the championship with eight victories, Johnson headed to Britain to race in GB3. Having missed the first two rounds, the teenager went on to win two races and come 11th in the standings.
Last year was less busy in number of races, but Johnson packed in four championships. He stepped up to the second tier of single-seaters to contest two Indy Nxt early in the year, either side of campaigns in fourth-tier competitions. Johnson was a race-winning third in FRegional Oceania, and his half-season in GB3 resulted in two podiums.
During summer, Johnson raced on Formula 1’s support bill by doing four rounds of the FIA F3 Championship.
His journey in junior single-seaters concluded this year as he returned to Indy Nxt, and he won the season-opening race in St. Petersburg. His second win came at Barber two races later, then seven podiums through the rest of the 17-race campaign was enough to deliver him the title.